I'm thinking of getting either a microdrive or flashdrive for backing up data. The extra storage of a microdrive would be nice, but I'm concerend about reliability. And just how reliable are flashdrives? Any advice would be great.
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CCFreak2K!mgsA1X/tJA2005-09-28 11:04
Flash drives are quite reliable, in my experience. Companies tend to make them quite resiliant, and because of their shape, they're resistant to physical damage. However, they have a write life of about 10 million rewrites per cell, so don't wear it down if it's going to be long term storage.
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Anonymous2005-09-29 4:46
just get an ipod
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Anonymous2005-09-29 15:45
10 million rewrites is a lot. If you assume that in ten years, you'll transfer everything worth keeping onto more modern media, that gives you a million rewrites per cell a year. You'll need to average some 2700+ rewrites to a cell everyday for ten years to "wear it out". For backup purposes, there's no way you'll reach that type of writing activity.
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Anonymous2005-09-29 22:59
Your point is valid, but don't forget that ten million is mean between failures. You might get a lot less, or a lot more.
The problem is one bad cell can break everything, at least if there isn't error correction. There are a lot of cells in a flash. So the odds aren't as appealing as you'd think.
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Anonymous2005-09-30 11:03
I wouldn't use that for backups; it's not cost-effective... You don't really need to pay for a random access long-term storage device for backups. Taiyo Yuden DVD+Rs should do fine.
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Anonymous2005-09-30 12:43
>>6
That's actualy what I've been doing and will probably continue to for the bulk of my data. Some of it I need to back up more frequently though, and I was looking for simpler solution for that data. I'm getting tired of juggling DVDs, basicaly.
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Anonymous2005-09-30 18:34
Flash drives are best for carrying files around (I always keep a bunch of useful tools on mine - latest antivirus and spyware removal utils, etc.), but an external hard drive is good for large backups. Get an empty external housing and just shove however big a hard drive you want in it, and you can replace it with a bigger drive later if you need to.
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Anonymous2005-10-01 16:11
I use CD+RWs and an internal hard drive which I'm planning on converting to an external with a kit, or just buying a new external.