Need an OS X recovery disk? Here are some sleek, cheap, and fast flash drives to match your Mac

When you install Lion or Mountain Lion, you need a network connection. Because some networks can be unreliable, you may want to set up a thumb drive as a restore disk. When I reinstalled Lion on my old MBP, the estimated install time was 78 hours because my network was having problems.

To avoid problems like that, you’ll want to get a flash drive and create your own recovery disk.

Here are some USB flash drives that may interest you:

Sleek & small

My choice: Kingston SE9 16 GB / $10
A simple, elegant flash drive that goes well with the MacBook Pro & MacBook Air.

• 16 GB / $13 Super Talent Pico-C
• 16 GB / $10 SanDisk Cruzer Blade
• 16 GB / $12 SanDisk Cruzer Fit (32 GB / $23)
• 16 GB / $23 Adata S805 Sport has a carabiner-like clip
• 32 GB / $23 SanDisk Cruzer Fit

Speedy: USB 3

The new MacBook Pro with Retina display has two USB 3.0 ports. The USB 3.0 drives are clunkier, but have faster transfer speeds.

• Cheapest: 16 GB / $16 ADATA C103
• 32 GB / $30 Mushkin Enhanced Ventura
• 16 GB / $31 Sony Microvault Q-Series (32 GB / $61) (64 GB / $119)
• 64 GB / $70 Corsair Survivor
• 64 GB / $105 Kingston HyperX
• 256 GB: $522 Kingston HyperX

For more USB 3 drives, search on Newegg: USB 3 flash drives