Flash Drives

landbeforetimelover · **on:** April 21, 2008, 04:35:11 AM

I have been reminded for the 8th time how resilient my flash drives are. My mom ran over one of them with the car and she washed 7 others, the 7th of them being today. It survived through washing AND drying!

This is the second time too. I can't believe more people don't own one of these. I never use CD's. They're way too inefficient. I use these instead and have grown quite a collection over the years:

I have about 3 times the amount of flash drives than seen here. These were just the one's I had on hand. I still can't believe that so many people don't own one of these and even more still don't even know of their existence. I'm going to get an 8GB one soon and I hope to add it to my collection. Flash drives have become a huge part of our lives. They have necklaces, bracelets, ear rings, key chains, and tons of other stuff you wouldn't even believe that involve flash drives. Why haven't these little devices caught on to most computer users?

Kor · **Reply #1 on:** April 21, 2008, 06:08:18 AM

I would expect it is in part due to folks being use to cd's and dvd's. Considering the capacity they have nowadays they can store more then a dvd, though I"m not sure about a blue-ray, though by the time those come down to where most people can afford them I'd not be surprised if the sd and flash memory devices had shot past them.

I wonder if those flash drives are better then sd or sdhc cards or about the same.

They are handy, put a lot on one, pop it into your pocket and take it to another computer. With a flash drive or a card reader all you need is for the pc to have a usb slot.

I would expect part of their resilience is due to their being solid state, and lots of tough parts like plastic they are made of.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #2 on:** April 21, 2008, 10:20:30 AM

I currently don't use flash drives because they are typically more expensive than CDs. And the ones I've seen at Walmart can only hold 1 or 2 GB. I can spend about the same amount of money it would cost to get a 1 or 2 GB flash drive from Walmart to get one container of about 50 or so CDs, each holding around 700 MB, or a container of about 50 or so DVDs holding 4.7 GB each.

So with a container of 50 700 MB CDs, I get a total of 35 GB of storage, and with 50 4.7 DVDs, I get 235 GB of storage. But with flash drives, I'd only get around 1 or 2 GB for the same price as what I'd spend getting a container of discs. I get more for my money. It's more convenient for me.

The flash drives I was referring to are the cheaper ones I've seen at Walmart. The cheapest I've seen them was around $20 or so.

action9000 · **Reply #3 on:** April 21, 2008, 03:15:37 PM

DVDs are faster than Flash drives. B)
It takes me just as long to copy 1GB to a USB flash drive as it takes to copy 4.7GB from a DVD to my hard drive.

Kor · **Reply #4 on:** April 21, 2008, 03:31:08 PM

As to which is better, each has their uses and certain strengths that the other lacks.

Clawandfang · **Reply #5 on:** April 21, 2008, 03:31:20 PM

I've got a very small flash drive (only 128MB) which I used to cart school work around. I got it a couple of years ago for less than £10, and have never needed to upgrade, as I use it very little.

Petrie. · **Reply #6 on:** April 21, 2008, 03:37:46 PM

I have only one blue Lexar flash drive at 512mb. Only Lexar ones work with my computer...any other brand I've attempted will disconnect at random.

Optical media is far cheaper if you don't plan on editing anything stored on the media.

The Great Valley Guardian · **Reply #7 on:** April 21, 2008, 04:50:05 PM

I currently own and use a 1GB flash drive, and it is a God send...really. I wouldn't have made it as far as I have in my college major without one! While I do use CD's from time to time, I prefere Flash Drives. However I would buy more, but I can't seem to get a job around here.

And whats worse is that my folks refuse to get me another one for school.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #8 on:** April 21, 2008, 05:51:14 PM

The data on CD's and DVD's are too unreliable and it corrupts very easily. I would NEVER use CD's or DVD's to back up any important information I have on my computer. I always make an ISO copy of each disk I have because they always become corrupt after a few years. Writing to CD's to backup data was great......in the 20th century.

Now they have ways to store things more reliably and for longer periods. They estimate the lifetime of data on a disk is limited to 5-10 years, while the data on a flash drive lasts about 50-80 years. A disk has never lasted me more than 5 years.....ever. They usually become corrupt after a year or two for me. Add to that how easy it is to scratch the disks, and you're just asking for trouble if all you use to back up your data is CD's. Heck, a bundle of DVD-RW disks is like $30. Just spend triple that and get an external 500gb hard drive.

: It's a no-brainer. I can only see the use for DVD's if you want to create movies for your TV.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #9 on:** April 21, 2008, 07:06:51 PM

Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Apr 21 2008 on 05:51 PM

Heck, a bundle of DVD-RW disks is like $30. Just spend triple that and get an external 500gb hard drive. : It's a no-brainer.

Currently my best option is to just get the DVD-RWs. Not everyone wants to throw away almost $100 for an external harddrive when they can just get some CDs for $20-$30. Makes sense. And they can last a good long time if you take care of them properly. I have a CD that's from around 2001 or 2002 and it still works just fine (and it's scratched up).

Keni · **Reply #10 on:** April 21, 2008, 07:14:13 PM

Uh-huh...I have burned CDs with programs and such that are older than 5 years and they still work just fine. Maybe you have bad luck with them or something, 'cause I never heard of a CD corrupting or messing up after a period of time. As long as you take care of them and never scratch them they should work as well as the day you burned them. Even scratched CDs can be read no problem. So honestly I don't know where this "CDs never work past 5 years" idea came from.

I use CDs to back up important/huge programs that I own. I usually use my flash drives for documents and small files. So far I had one problem with my flash drive corrupting (Had to format it once, don't know how it got corrupted) and CD backups have never failed me yet.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #11 on:** April 21, 2008, 07:16:10 PM

Quote from: Keni,Apr 21 2008 on 07:14 PM

Even scratched CDs can be read no problem.

True. A lot of my CDs are scratched up and most of them still work just fine. And a good portion of those that don't will eventually work once I clean them up and keep trying. Only a few stopped working altogether and they were usually the ones that got stepped on.

Kor · **Reply #12 on:** April 21, 2008, 10:19:15 PM

There is also a device called a disk resurfacer that can remove a thin layer of a scratched disk to make them readable. Though I'm sure there is a limit to this before ti gets to thin.

I read elsewhere part of how long a disk will last is not only how they are cared for, handled and stored, but also the adhesives that are used in their production. Though I may be wrong since I'm not an expert in this area. I have read on other pages about some having their disks going bad after a time, cd's and dvd's, and others that have a disk that works perfect even after 5 or 10 years.

action9000 · **Reply #13 on:** April 21, 2008, 10:38:59 PM

Quote

, 'cause I never heard of a CD corrupting or messing up after a period of time.

There is actually a life span on any CD, unfortunately. Typically, the lifespan of a CD-R that you burn yourself is 5-15 years depending on the quality of the CD. The lifespan of the commercial CD that you bought in a store (with, say, music or a game on it) is approximately 25 years, give or take a few. This is because the disk surface reacts with the gases in the air (mainly oxygen, I believe) and over time the data on the disk becomes less and less distinct, as compared to a "blank" disk.

Fact of life: One of my friends has an anime collection he's kept on burned CDs for many, many years. Recently though, his oldest CDs have stopped responding. The disks simply blanked themselves out over the decade or so that he had the CDs.

Kor · **Reply #14 on:** April 22, 2008, 03:18:17 AM

I guess dvd's are about the same?

Petrie. · **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2008, 07:59:46 AM

Nobody's had burned dvd media that long to know. I think error correction is stronger on dvd writing media than cds, so you might be safe for a couple more years down the road.

Kor · **Reply #16 on:** April 22, 2008, 08:09:03 AM

And I guess flash media will last longer then cd's or maybe dvd's?

action9000 · **Reply #17 on:** April 22, 2008, 01:37:40 PM

Quote

And I guess flash media will last longer then cd's or maybe dvd's?

I think the life expectancy for Flash memory is closer to 75 years but don't quote me on that. I don't remember for sure. It is significantly longer than CDs or DVDs from what I recall.

Kor · **Reply #18 on:** April 22, 2008, 03:35:30 PM

Interesting. I'd have thought they were about the same, but I guess it does make sense that the flash memory would last longer.

NeptuneNavigator2001 · **Reply #19 on:** May 05, 2008, 02:34:04 AM

Hmm... Well, Blu-ray Discs are inorganic (copper and silicone if I remember correctly), so it would seem to me, that under optimal circumstances, they would last even longer than either CD or DVD. Amazing... I didn't know Flash drives would last THAT long... Now if only there was a way to write-protect them... That's the thing I like about DVD+R; you can't erase it... But, the organic thing is a problem...

All of my CDs, save for one, still work, and I've had some of those for 10 years; some of my backups are AT LEAST 5 years old. However, to be on the safe side, I have made backups of some of the lower quality CDs... (I don't really intend to burn to double layer, either... If you burn data onto a single layer DVD, and it goes bad, you'd only lose about, maximum, 4.7GB. However, you'd lose DOUBLE that if a double layer DVD was to go bad...!!! Not good...

I forgot to mention, that the CD that I had problems with, was a CD with a bunch of .WAV files; I was able to extract all the files with ISOBuster, and reconstruct them to be usable again, cutting out the "bad parts" that were left behind. (The disc had minor label damage. Peeling/flaking...) Fortunate thing that it was only a bunch of .WAV files, and that the majority of them - especially ones that were semi-important to me - were mostly untouched...

EDIT: Oh, and for the record, I have ONE Flash drive, a 1GB Memorex, intended to be used mainly for my college stuff. When college fell apart, I was left with a way to transfer files without opening my computers and swapping hard drives...