Which flash drives do you recommend if any?

The only reasons to buy more expensive USB sticks would be:

a) If you need it to work with Windows To Go, a portable version of Windows 8.x that can be used if you have a volume license of Windows 8.x Enterprise. Windows To Go only works with certain sticks from certain manufacturers, and those will therefore also be more expensive than normal sticks.

b) If you need built-in encryption, which some sticks include.

Otherwise go for the cheapest you can get.

Aaron:
What is "TB?"

The Lexars in photo 3-4 are USB 2.0.
The higher cost Lexar in photo 2 are USB 3.0. They are a much higher cost.
What is the difference between 2.0 and 3.0.
Nobus refers to a 3.0 as well.

4 of the Lexar S50, 16GB $5.99 only gives me 64 total
3 of the Lexar S50, 32GB $9.99 are slightly more and a total of 128.

I don't think Windows To Go will be involved.

We need to keep photos of all items in the house in case of a catastrophic fire for insurance reasons. Also text which are list of all items in the house, photos of trees being healthy.
After that maybe 150 music files and maybe 20 video files.

Lifetime being short is not good. The home contents photos need to be preserved long term. We could assume the data on the flash drive is good 2 years after the load the data and an insurance claim arrives only to find out the data traveler died a week earlier.

USB 3 is much faster than USB 2 is but your PC would also need USB 3 ports for that to come into play. Only newer PC's have USB 3 ports. Usually you can identify USB ports by their blue color.

TB = Terra Byte or 1,000 GB= Giga Bytes

For your needs I think you should go with my first recomendation. It is cheap and will have all the storage you want. If this is in case of emergency you might want to keep it at a separate location if you have family or friends house who could hold it... If you wanted to do this then just buy two they are cheap enough.

Here is the link again:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145966

Bare drives are about the same cost as the external drives though and a docking station is just one more thing for the user. In fact external drives are often on sale for less and they are enclosed so they are not exposed to dust and then if you want to recover something from one of the two drives you don't need to get another docking station. (which has to connect and reconnect to the drive itself which I personally would rather reconnect a usb cable that can be replaced than endager the drive itself). Those are just some concerns with it however that option is viable as well.

Dust normally isn't a big problem for disks, and in my point of view you are more flexible with a dock, as you only need one, and they take either 2.5" and 3.5" disks. Standard internal disks are generally much cheaper than a finished USB disk is, and you could even use 2nd hand disks for that. You don't need perfect high quality disks for that as long as you get several of them (which is one of the most important rules for backups, never just have one backup).

USB sticks and also finished USB disks are more meant for carrying along for convenience, so you have the data with you when you aren't at home. They aren't meant for long term safe storage.

usb 2 speed  = 480MB/s - usb 3 = 10 as fast

The drive I posted is USB 3.0 in case you were wondering Nick

We need to keep photos of all items in the house in case of a catastrophic fire for insurance reasons. Also text which are list of all items in the house, photos of trees being healthy.

After that maybe 150 music files and maybe 20 video files.

So find out how much that is in Gb.  When you know your required size then you determine if you need 8 Gb or 16 Gb or what.

You don't need USB 3.  You won't be accessing this on a continuous basis so you don't need USB 3 speed.  USB 2 is good enough.

Cheap flash drives are good enough but NOT one.  Two or three and kept in different locations, one in the house (fireproof and dry container) and the others off site.  And check them every year.  You should be updating your photos and text documents for the house every year anyway.  This is STANDARD backup practice.

Here's one I can get in a couple days for $45.00.

It's USB 3.0.
The pc owned at the time may not have a USB 3 port (?) so a 2 to 3 adapter may be required.

http://www.staples.com/TOSHIBA-CANVIO-1TB-BASICS-PORTABLE-HARD-DRIVE/product_1337688

They are backwards compatible so you can use a 3.0 in a 2.0 that is why I always say to go with 3.0 so in the future you stay up to date. This is a fairly good buy I think you would like it. If you are really worried about the data get 2. Keep one at your house and keep the second one in a secure location (family members house). This is honestly the best time of year to buy them.

I still suggest you get a dock and a couple of normal disks. The dock I linked to for example also supports USB3. Those finished products are meant for portability to take along with you, not for backup or archiving purposes.

dbrunton:
I'd get a number of the $5.99 ones.  Reason:  Low price.  And I'd back up to both drives because when one dies the other one is still available.

What does "die" mean?
The data stored is gone, or garbled, or half you can read and half you can not, or you insert them in the USB post and the pc does not recognize them at all much less totally empty, etc.

I doubt we will be using them over and over so no re-writing if any at all. Semi permanent storage.

What does "die" mean?
The data stored is gone, or garbled, or half you can read and half you can not, or you insert them in the USB post and the pc does not recognize them at all much less totally empty, etc.

Any of the above.

If you've got two (three better) and the data backed up is the same on both and one dies, then the other is your saviour.  And you don't need expensive drives.  And if you're not writing frequently as your post indicates then they won't get worn out.

the product you choose is fine, and since it does not have it's own power supply - i don't recommend to use it on USB 2  without using a powered usb hub

-