Flash drives verses CD/DVD's

[wdhpr]

Source Wikipedi

A USB flash drive consists of flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 1.1 or 2.0 interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, much smaller than a floppy disk, and most weigh less than 30 g (1 oz).[1] Storage capacities in 2010 can be as large as 256 GB[2] with steady improvements in size and price per capacity. Some allow 1 million write or erase cycles[3][4] and have a 10-year data retention cycle.[5]

I have read a couple of post that ask which is more reliable. The simple answer is not that simple

I tend to think of it this way.
A CD is like a piece of paper. You write to it and you have a your data. If the CD is rewritable and you erase the data. Your piece of paper is not as big as when you wrote to it the first time.

A flashdrive can be wrote to and then erased up to a million times with out any loss of space/capacity.

CD/DVD's can be scratched resulting in corruption of the data and or the disk. One look at my sons Playstation CD's can attest to that. I like to think I take good care of my CD's but they get scratches as well. I also recall that CD's do not have the shelf life of flashdrives.

Modern USB2 flashdrives can easily be found with up to 16 gigs of storage. With some searching they can be found with up to 256 gigs. Prices are continuing to drop

Flashdrives can be used to boot an entire linux OS and if its persistent you can save your files and settings.

I am not foreseeing the same fate that has befallen the Floppy drive anytime soon. But being a trekie fan I foresee something evolving more in the image of a flashdrive.

Cheers
Wdhpr

[MidnightCowboy]

I have (had) two USB flash drives one of 2G and the other of 4G so neither are stuffed to the limit capacity wise for the size of the units. The 2G one which is about a year old I've had to throw away as despite re-formatting it continually throws up errors. I speak to people all the time who have had similar experiences with short life spans and I certainly wouldn't trust this medium to store valuable data. Both units are from a top manufacturers and I always follow the correct procedure when disconnecting. I still recommend quality CD's/DVD's, (depending on the size to need to save) especially for one-off storage. Otherwise, online storage is an option so long as you have the bandwidth to upload it and take care with the service you choose. Certainly you might need to pay to find a secure and reliable service if you have a large amount of data as the free ones are mostly capped. For other local reasons, most of the folks I know are now investing in a second external hard drive and I think this will be the direction I will go in myself shortly.

[Anupam]

I agree about the point for CD/DVDs, that they can easily get scratched, and that can cause problems. Care has to be taken to store them the right way. That is only the real problem in my opinion. Otherwise, I think CD/DVDs are a reliable medium to store data. I take care to store the important CDs the right way. If you stack them up on a spindle holder, chances are that they might rub against each other, and get scratched. There have been such cases with me in the past. I keep my CDs, in a CD folder, which is like a file, and keeps CDs away from each other. I found it to be quite reliable.

Flash drives are also a great media. But, I find them unreliable, and unpredictable. All of a sudden, for no reason, they might just stop working. Although, I have never had any problem with them thankfully, but as MC wrote in his post, they are unreliable. But still, flash drives are useful, because they are easy to use, are a great media to store data, and even operating systems. Can be carried easily.

About external drives, they are costly. I have also read, that failure rate is quite high. So, once again, I can't get myself to trust them.

Online storage are a good solution too. I have been thinking of getting one. I don't have large data to backup, just some files like my bookmarks, or other notes. Although, I have Xmarks for bookmarks, which is excellent, but it may get lost with a wrong synchronization. So, I have been thinking of trying out online storage. I am lazy to try them out though .

[kendall.a]

Online storage are a good solution too. I have been thinking of getting one. I don't have large data to backup, just some files like my bookmarks, or other notes. Although, I have Xmarks for bookmarks, which is excellent, but it may get lost with a wrong synchronization. So, I have been thinking of trying out online storage. I am lazy to try them out though .

Not to get off topic, but I've been using Mozy almost since it's inception and I just love it. I'm still using the free version and it meets my needs just fine. It backs up faithfully every night and has done so forever. It's basically set it and forget it. The very few times that I've needed to restore a file, it was a piece of cake. I highly recommend Mozy.

[Anupam]

Thanks for the suggestion kendall . I have read good things about Mozy too. Apart from Mozy, other choices are there, which seem to be good too... DropBox, and SugarSync. Both provide sync option. So, I will have a look at them, when I have time.

[wdhpr]

I probably go a little overboard when it comes to backing up my data. I have at least two redundancies just in case. I have an image of both my Windows and Linux OS's on a second hard drive. I have a clean image of windows. I have dvd backups of personal data and I use two separate online backups.

When it comes to flashdrives I have a 1 gig Lexar, 4 gig Kingston and a 2 gig SanDisk (cruzer). The 4 gig Kingston cost me 19 us dollars the others were less than 10 bucks. Although fashdrive prices have been going down, CD/DVD's remain the lower cost solution. I always keep my CD's in jewel cases stored side by side. For critical data I keep the disks in a fire proof safe. No idea if they would survive in a fire though. I think they may still melt.

As far as flashdrive reliability. I have never lost data that was stored on a flashdrive. However I have had CD's fail and had to resort in the long painful process of extracting data from the corrupted disk. A great app for this is ISO Buster That said, I have no doubt about MC's experience with flashdrives. Again I believe in time the technology will improve and flashdrives will be even more reliable. For those that are interested in obtaining a flashdrive I would recommend the SanDisk Cruzer as does PenDriveLinux.

External hardrives are another great backup solution. I believe it was MC that mentioned they will last longer if you obtain those with cooling fans.

Flashdrives are just another tool. Personal experiences will dictate how people will use them and they may not be the best backup solution. My experiences have been good but I also concede that its not a good idea to keep all your eggs in one basket.

Cheers
Wdhpr

[freedog96150]

I have had CD/DVD media quit working and have been the victim of bad USB devices as well. So, I tend to take the approach that @wdhpr discusses - redundant backups of critical data everywhere. My typical recommendation is to use both together.

I'll admit that I rarely use USB for anything but temporary storage and to store bootable images and tools, such as the Gizmo USB that is pending! But I always have an empty 4GB USB key plugged into my Vista boxes - I love the speed bump you get when you attach the key as flash memory.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by Anupam

About external drives, they are costly. I have also read, that failure rate is quite high. So, once again, I can't get myself to trust them.

From what I see here this is very true of those marques designed purely as ready made external solutions. Take an average brand internal model such as Sata though, stuff it in a box with a cooling fan and for a bit more than you'd pay for a ready-made (or even less) you have something that should last just like any standard installation.

[Jojoyee]

Originally Posted by wdhpr

I probably go a little overboard when it comes to backing up my data. I have at least two redundancies just in case...

Redundancies are actually necessary for me. Each storage device has its pros and cons, and I tend to keep data in each available storage device if possible.

For data in flash storage, I tend to keep a copy of it in the hard disk. For accessing data from everywhere, I keep a copy in flash cards or sticks and online storage. I seldom burn data into optical disks nowadays, unless I'm making a LiveCD, making audio and video disks, or for passing on to another person who needs the data as the disk cost is absolutely low.

[wdhpr]

Yes

I almost forgot. I too keep backups of my flashdrives to my hard drive which is then backed up to an image as well as my DVD's and online storage.
Maybe because I have lost important files in the past I tend to be a bit careful.

Cheers
Wdhpr