Memory sticks - durability and reliability long term?

[jko]

I have been using a 32GB memory stick (thumb drive) to store all my data, for the sake of portability, simplicity & convenience. It's been over a year now, with absolutely no problems, used every day, worked very hard, and barely half full.

Although I have the data backed up, I wonder whether memory sticks are any more reliable than an ordinary HDD? Or just as likely one day to go belly up?

Does anybody have any experience with this?

[tominbkk]

They are great but can def go belly up. I would recommend you keep things backed up elsewhere as well.

[Chicog]

I've had loads go tits up on me over the years.

Always keep another backup if your data is that critical.

[lostinisaan]

As others have already mentioned, please back your data up. And should you use it for your stereo system in your car, please use a USB cable and leave it in the glove compartment. Just killed a good one and it wasn't backed up. It's getting too hot inside a car for electronic parts.

I had this one for ten years and I'd assume that they're more reliable than hard drives, as they have mechanical parts. USB memory sticks don't.

[ETatBKK]

USB memory drive is just a carrying media, like the floppy in those days. it may get problem as any other electronics, or lost somewhere.

if you use it everyday, then back it up everyday. if sensitive data involved, then encrypt it as well. I did lose one with annual appraisals of my team, so embarrassing.

[harrry]

USB memory drive is just a carrying media, like the floppy in those days. it may get problem as any other electronics, or lost somewhere.

if you use it everyday, then back it up everyday. if sensitive data involved, then encrypt it as well. I did lose one with annual appraisals of my team, so embarrassing.

Actually not. It haas been shown to be one of the safest long term data storages of all. Of course it allways pays to keep multiple copies in multiple physical locations.

[aussiebebe]

I've been using a cheap Acer memory stick almost daily for 5 years without issue. I would never rely on it for backing anything up, though.

The only memory stick I've every broken was a gimmicky one - it was a tiny toy Porsche and the USB part slide out. I accidentally knocked into and snapped it, so the data was unrecoverable.

For anyone worried about durability, you couldn't go wrong with an Ironkey - those are not only encrypted but rugged, water-resistant and tamperproof... and expensive.

[farang62]

I finally had my first stick fail after 9 years, 2 gig, Kingston.

Sent back to Kingston, they told me the failure was due to the way they used back than to make the connection to the contacts.Advised me to always use a USB extension cable as the contacts are the most prone to problems. continual pluging in and out, so with the etension cable no dammage to the stick contacts.

They did recover my data and sent it back on a new Free stick.

I have data on over 24 sticks now and have never had a problem, but everything is backed up on my cloud server. All my sticks are Kingston and I have never looked back.

Transfer speeds have improved a lot over the years, check out Kingston's site and learn the things to look for, the cheap sticks usually have a very slow transfer speed,

[wprime]

They're better for durability and long term storage, but if you write a lot to them often they will go belly up very quickly.

Flash technology has come a long way in the last 3 years and while flash memory which can outlast mechanical drives under heavy write loads exists, most USB flash disks still use cheap memory which won't last long if written to frequently.

[draftvader]

Any sensible backup will have multiple locations. My set-up (I build web solutions for SMEs).

C drive - dev environment backed up on D

D drive - dev backup and data. All sources backed up to PC 2 on network - full backup maintained realtime and google drive back-up too

Periodically I will back-up the entire C drive (when I am in a clean state) to D in case of complete HD failure.

I also have an older drive that has some bad sectors written out that I do complete back-ups to periodically using my hot swap bay. This is a paranoid back-up and the drive spends all its time in my desk drawer so it is, basically, as dependable as the last back-up if everything else fails.

Added to this my hosting company back-up my sites twice a day and store for 30 days.

There are plenty of online solutions to backing up that offer plenty of free space. If you examine your 32GB I expect you'll find that not all of it is "vital". My dev environment, my "active" design files (I do store legacy files but only as a service to my clients and they are aware that storage of these files is their responsibility so I won't mind if I lose them), my accounts and my important personal data take up 12GB at present. Everything else is backed up using other services (i.e. flickr for images, gmail for e-mail and contacts, etc).

Review your data and you may well find that the vital stuff will fit well inside a free online storage plan that should be a copy of your USB device.

My house could burn down and I would lose a couple of days working time rebuilding and downloading my business data to a new PC.

[jaideeguy]

I've had a Kingston 4gb go thru the wash and spin dry cycle 2 times in it's 7 years and still works perfect. Won't buy any other brands...............................but beware of some fake Kingstons that were on the market a couple of years back. Not only were they fake, but had a nasty virus installed............couldn't tell from packaging as it looked like the real thing.......bought from a street vendor.

[harrry]

Data on a flash drive will last for years however there is limit to the number of read and write cycles and the number of times it can be put in a socket.

If you want secure storage save the files to a usb stick that is not used regularly. Dedicate it to the backups and do not just rely on a folder on a tranfer disk that is used repeatedly.

[Cloggie]

Get an account at Crashplan - http://www.code42.com/crashplan/

In case your USB stick fails - you still have a backup.

It's not a matter of if, but when will it fail.

PS - what if it get stolen or if you loose it???

[Pib]

While memory stick manufacturers will quote lifespan specs which are fantastic, memory sticks still fail/become corrupt/etc. I've had a couple fail. One just died dead. Others have just magically become partially or totally corrupt even when some were write-protected...a new format got them going again. Definitely don't trust your data just to "one each" memory stick, hard drive, DVD/CD, etc., because they all "eventually" fail--electrically and/or mechanically...have multiple backups for your data on different media.

[Africanteacher]

Store your data on Google Drive or Dropbox.

[Chicog]

I've had a Kingston 4gb go thru the wash and spin dry cycle 2 times in it's 7 years and still works perfect. Won't buy any other brands...............................but beware of some fake Kingstons that were on the market a couple of years back. Not only were they fake, but had a nasty virus installed............couldn't tell from packaging as it looked like the real thing.......bought from a street vendor.

While there are still people out there using unsecured Windows XP, I always recommend this:

http://download.cnet.com/Panda-USB-Vaccine/3000-2239_4-10909938.html

[bartender100]

I stupidly encrypted a stick with Bitlocker which uses a "key" then my hard drive failed and I lost this key, stick and data is lost forever I guess

[JSixpack]

I stupidly encrypted a stick with Bitlocker which uses a "key" then my hard drive failed and I lost this key, stick and data is lost forever I guess

Truecrypt, my man.

[bartender100]

I stupidly encrypted a stick with Bitlocker which uses a "key" then my hard drive failed and I lost this key, stick and data is lost forever I guess

Truecrypt, my man.

Yeah I know that now, excellent software

[BangkokHank]

Every memory stick I've ever owned has eventually failed - some sooner, some later. I recently bought a nice little 16gb Toshiba memory stick that looked solid but didn't last more than three months before it fell apart. And a very solid looking one from Hewlett Packard also failed on me recently. I will say, though, that I do use mine every day, so they do get a bit of wear and tear. In any case, like everyone else has suggested, I have by now learned to keep multiple back-ups of all crucial data.

I have been avoiding Kingston for the past half dozen or more years after one of their camera cards failed on my at the end of a Burma trip - when the card was full of irreplaceable pictures. But after reading the comments here, I'm now willing to give them another try.