Does anybody out there have problems with U.S.B. flash drives? the life expandacy for text documents lasts about six months on one of those things, and I had one document that I was forced to replace from A C.D. R.O.M. beacuse it wouldn't open. has anybody out there had similair problems?
I have a pile of dead sticks knocking around in the bottom of drawers. Max life expectancy is a year or two if you're lucky. So 6 months isn't unusual!
These things are only meant for short term storage and transfering files quickly between computers. They should never be used for critical storage. EVER. They should be given away free with breakfast cereals. Maybe they are!
I hardly use them anymore. Transfering files via dropbox or other cloud resources is a safer bet.
I have drives several years old that I use intermittantly without incident. USB drives are not archival, but are not so disposable, either, unless thay are just cheaply made.
Max read/writes should be 10,000 times. A chip will hold it's data until it physically disrupted. You can drive a nail through one and only where the nail wentnthrough will data be lost.
As with everything these days, it does seem to come down to price paid most times. I have a couple of the more expensive SanDisk Cruzer Titanium drives (one of which survived a stint in the washing machine) that are still going strong, but other cheaper no-brand ones that have died after a few uses seemingly without cause.
I've never actually used a dedicated USB memory stick as such. I tend to use micro SD cards that can be slotted into USB holders/readers.
I had a TDK micro SD holder which disintegrated after a short while using it even though I was very careful handling it. Pushing them in and out of reception slots takes a toll on the hardware. The materials seem to become fatigued before too long. I always put the protective cover over the exposed end when they're not in use. The best of the admittedly small pile I've tested out are PNY made. They have a little blue LED on the outward facing end to show they are in contact with the machine. When you use the option to 'safely remove hardware,' the LED winks out. They're kind of neat. I mainly use micro SDs to store mp3 music, but I've also got one in the digital camera. I've even used some 4GB cards both in the mp3 player and the camera with both sound and image files present at the same time. Very useful they are too.
I've never had one of these tiny cards fail on me outright - just the USB outer casing.
Yeah, I find the disposability comment strange. I've been using the same couple flash drives for 3 to, in one case, nearly 7 years now, mostly just for basic file transfer between computers, and they're still working fine.
Yeah, I find the disposability comment strange. I've been using the same couple flash drives for 3 to, in one case, nearly 7 years now, mostly just for basic file transfer between computers, and they're still working fine.
Yup this. I usually lose them rather than have them stop working.
