Where to find flash drives in Escape from Tarkov

How to find the flash drives for "What's on the Flash Drive?" in Escape from Tarkov.

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One of the early roadblocks players encounter in Escape from Tarkov is Skier's “What's on the Flash Drive?” quest which unlocks after you finish “The Extortionist”. This quest usually takes players a long time to complete so here are a few reliable ways to get your hands on the two flash drives required.

How to find flash drives

shows the flash drive in escape from tarkov
Who's driving this flash?
Source: Battlestate Games

Flash drives can spawn in a multitude of ways, but there are no reliable spawns for them. That's why most players tend to look for them while completing other quests. The only, somewhat guaranteed way of getting them is by offering high-value items at the cultist circle of your hideout. While the loot you can get there is always random, you have a high chance of getting items you need for a quest.

But there are other ways to obtain flash drives. They are most commonly found in drawers, buried barrel caches, plastic suitcases, and on dead scavs. There is also a chance for them to spawn in front of tents or plugged into computers. From experience, some of the best places to find them are Customs, Ground Zero, and Interchange.

shows the dorms on customs in escape from tarkov
Who wants to get dorky on dorms?
Source: Battlestate Game

On Customs, one of the best places to look for flash drives is the dorms. On the top floor of the two-story dorm, you can find filing cabinets in room 201 and 204. In the three-story dorm, you can find one in the office at the entrance in room 117. Additionally, you can also check out the campsite behind the two-story dorm which has a chance of spawning up to two flash drives per raid.

shows an abandoned office in escape from tarkov
Every PC in Tarkov has a chance of spawning a flash drive in the front.
Source: Battlestate Games

If you’re on Interchange, you might want to check the offices at the back of the Oli hardware store. There are a bunch of computers there, all of which have a chance of spawning with a flash drive plugged into them. Alternatively, you can also check the abundantly, but randomly spawning hidden stashes around the mall.

shows the kyshperski office in escape from tarkov
Seems familiar.
Source: Battlestate Games

Since you'll spend a lot of time on Ground Zero at the start of your Escape from Tarkov career, you might as well spend some looking for flash drives here. The Kyshpersky offices located in the Fusion building have a few filing cabinets and computers worth checking out. You can also find a bunch of dead scavs around the Skyside building in the north, as well as the park in front of the TerraGroup offices. All of which have a chance of spawning with flash drives on them. Should those fail you, you can also find suitcases all across the map, most prominently in the western lobby of the Skyside building opposite the Mira Ave extraction point.

And that's how you find flash drives in Escape from Tarkov, for more on BSGs extraction shooter check out our dedicated page.

Contributing Editor

Timo is an avid enjoyer of all things video games hailing from Germany. After being abandoned as a child on the Rolanberry Fields of Final Fantasy XI, he has since developed an undying love for the digital worlds of MMOs. But if you can't find him crafting up a storm in Final Fantasy XIV, you'll probably find him workshopping combos in action/fighting games or being extremely passionate about the latest mobile title.

Outside of gaming, Timo is usually skimming through the Criterion Collection or praying to whatever Eldritch horror that his latest favorite manga doesn't get damaged in shipping. You can find live reactions to all of that on X @ALahftel.

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