I've got a bunch of usb flash drives. Most of them have caps so I just have those in a drawer. But my Sandisk ones don't have caps and so to keep the dust etc. out I put them in a plastic zip lock baggie.

My engineer friend said that was a bad idea because of the risk of electrostatic discharge. He said put them in a metal box like from Altoid's mints or Sucrets, but I don't have any metal boxes like that.

I know there are purchase cases but I don't feel like spending the money. What are some practical safe ways to store them?

Thanks.

yes, i sometimes wonder myself.
fwiw, i don't store them in any special way, other than some standard rules that apply to all electronics.
with or without caps, they're just all over the place, on my table, in a pencil mug, in my wallet...

sometimes i blow into the slit to get excess dust out.

the only thing that failed me so far are usb sockets, not the sticks.

There are... For lack of a better word, I'll call them USB wallets. Small cases with elastic straps to secure the individual drives. From what I've seen, they're inexpensive.

In your Utility Belt with all your other Crime-Fighting Tools?

Altoids-Mini is like $2.00 at the store and you get fresh breath for a day or two.

I have a lot of Altoids boxes. It takes me longer than a day or two to empty one, but I've been doing it for a long time. Not for the breath, but because oil of peppermint increases alertness and wakes me up. They're great for quick pick-me-ups when driving or flying. I used to carry them in my flight bag all the time. The tins work for holding all sorts of things, from deep-well sockets to small electronic parts. The hard part is remembering what is in which tin. I could label them, but that's more work than I'm willing to go to. I don't think it makes much difference how you store flash drives. They're pretty bullet-proof. SD cards have been read after having nails pounded through them. I don't worry about it much.

Small tupperware container.

+3 metal box;
with a dessicant packet in the box would be for humid climates, I would say, for the best place.
Most of the time i carry them in the watch pocket of jeans, however.
Sometimes on a thread of sinew or the like around my neck.

You should never use a metal box for electronics. If you insist you can use one of the metalized plastic bags that are both ESD safe and ESD shield.
This is from a major electronic company's studies by the way. They used to use metal thinking it was better.

Okay, the metal box is the majority answer. (Although I liked the Utility Belt answer the best--but I don't have one.)

good thinking. they come in all sorts of product packaging, usually one just throws them away...
next question: how to store unused desiccant packets?
heh, stone age meets the future! :lol:

Anytime you buy a hard drive or PCI card it comes in a foil bag. Seems like that would be a fine way to store drives - that is what it is made for...

I'm not sure I understand the concern about static with using a plastic bag? I would have thought that the voltage required for static to jump onto one of the data pins of a USB stick card it would have to be higher than likely to be made by keeping one in a bag? The outside metal will, surely, be more than capable of taking a decent wattage of electricity as it has to interface with the "earth" of the computer which, in some circumstances, could be at a non-negligible voltage above zero.

Re: metal box -- a favorite seen is a small padded jewelry box made of pewter, for desktop storage of fragile non-shielded USB sticks.

@ondoho-- wrapping dessicant packets good with plastc wrap should work; yeh, I may be a walking contradiction (or an anachronism) but sinew works good for awhile when I want my 64GB Mushkin Atom handy and secure!

Now I'm confused. Metal boxes. No, not metal boxes. Foil bags--don't have any foil bags. Pewter jewelry boxes? Are you kidding? Well, maybe the plastic baggie is okay, after all. Come on, guys. This one should be easy.

Maybe I should be asking: Where do you store your retractable usb flash drives?

I have one in the second coin section of my leather wallet as "an off-site backup" and the ones I do keep at home are in a multi-vitamin bottle -- we don't suffer from high humidity (if you don;'t count rain) here in the UK.
I am not an electrical engineer and don't know for certain but I honestly can't think of any reason why a USB drive would be susceptible to static by being stored in a plastic bag?