'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Not buying a new iPhone? This flash drive will give your old one a new lease on life
The PNY Duo Link.
Apart from a worn battery and broken display, a common reason people upgrade an iPhone is that there is no more storage space. And, more often than not, what's behind all that storage consumption will be photos.
But just mass-deleting photos is a bad road to go down because you're invariably going to lose sentimental photos and either be sad or get into trouble. On the flip side, sorting through photos can be a huge waste of time (although there is some excellent software that can help you sort the wheat from the chaff).
Also: What to expect from Apple's 'Wonderlust Event'
So, if you don't want to delete things and you don't want to be tied to paying iCloud storage fees, a great option is to back up photos to a flash drive that will connect to both your iPhone and a computer.
Enter the PNY Duo Link Lightning and USB-A flash drive.
View at AmazonSpecs PNY Duo Link specs
- Capacity: 64-256GB
- Interface 1: Lightning Connector
- Interface 2: USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
- Compatibility: USB 3.2 Gen 1/USB 3.0 equipped host devices, backward compatible with USB 2.0
- Device Compatibility: iOS devices and a USB 3.2 Type-A connector for PC and Mac systems
- Operating System Compatibility: Compatible with iOS 10 and later, MacOS 10 and later, and Windows 7 and later
- Operating Temperature: 5 to 35 degrees Celsius
- Storage Temperature: -20 to 60 degrees Celsius
PNY Duo Link drive is small but well-built.
There are a lot of drives like this out there, but not many come close to the quality of this one. PNY is a respected company in the storage, memory, graphic card, and motherboard business, so you know you're in good hands.
Also: This charging cable with a twist works on every device, even your new iPhone 15
The drive is solidly made, featuring a durable metal construction with laser-engraved markings (a great touch because stickers and ink wear off easily). This is more than robust enough to put up with day-to-day use and life on a keychain.
Solid, metal construction with laser-etched print.
A plastic cap that covers the Lighting connector clips securely over the connector. This is the sort of thing that I will almost certainly lose, and when I do, I'm not going to worry about it. Lightning connectors are surprisingly robust.
It's a nice touch that the Lightning connector is long enough to be used when the iPhone is in a thick case. I hate having to take my iPhone out of its case to use accessories, so it's a pleasant surprise to find something that's been designed with this in mind.
Also: Apple fans will dig this stylish new 3-in-1 charger from Nomad
To use this drive on the iPhone, you need the PNY Duo Link 4 app. This handles the interface between the drive and the iPhone. Using this app, you can move selected photos and videos, back up your entire library, and even transfer documents and other media.
PNY Duo Link 4 app.
You can also use the app to password-protect the drive, but if you do this, you won't be able to use the drive on a Windows or Mac system.
Password-protecting the drive.
The reviews for this software aren't great, but I've tested it with the drive on a number of iPhones and had no problem whatsoever, so I can't comment on what problems people are having.
Also: The one iPhone 15 Pro upgrade I need is basic, reasonable, and disruptive
Performance-wise, the drive isn't a speed demon, and I was getting approximately 60MB per second in tests. But since this is specifically for backing up the iPhone, I don't see this performance limitation as an issue.
Benchmark testing the PNY Duo Link using MiniTool Partition Wizard 12.
With prices starting at $25 for a 64GB drive and increasing to $55 for the 256GB version, this is a cheap and effective way to get beyond your iPhone storage issues. It's not as perfect a solution as having the photos on your iPhone, but it's a very cost-effective way to get a few years out of your iPhone while saving you hundreds of dollars.