usb stick, and file system (vfat vs ext3)

If write caching is not enabled and you have a logging file system (such as ext3), then writes are going to be much slower than an unlogged file system (each write of a file is going to need a couple of extra writes to the log).

EXT3 (and NTFS) is a journaling file system that allows roll back when things go wrong. You must not use that feature on USB stick because the journal is frequently written and will wear out sectors. You can format to EXT2 that does not use journaling - or if you must your EXT3, then buy a USB SSD like the Buffalo SSDs that manages sector wear.

EXT3 is backward compatible with EXT2 and so you can mount the EXT3 filesystem as an EXT2 file system and eliminate the issue entirely without having to re-format.

Nearly all USB sticks "manage" sector wear.

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