flash 101

is solid-state memory really more reliable than hard drives, or even CDs/DVDs, nowadays? store clerks tell me this, but "flash" to me still sounds like RAM which rvaporizes with every power down.

i would like to make one solid backup for a dying PC. i was planning on getting a new DVD burner and doing it that way, but a flash drive seems a lot easier. which one is more likely to still have my data 5-10 years from now? (will load on next PC aniwes, but you get my point) i got burned in years past relying on superdrives, ZIPs, and the like. even moreso with CDs and DVDs....didn't matter if it was roxio, nero, or anything else, half of them were always MUNGED when the time came to rely on them.

i have abt 7G of data to save. just buy an 8G flash, copy it over, and throw it in a shoebox? is that the thing nowadays? should i buy TWO such drives and make TWO such backups to be safe?

(is there an R vs RW distinction for flash drives, btw? i.e., drives which can be written to only once? or some wort of "overwrite lock" at least, for schlubs like me who will invariably write junk over my master backup 6 months down the line?)

btw, does a flash drive just show up in explorer, waiting for drag and drop into it? my problems w CDs and DVDs mainly stemmed from the interaction with the software, and with all the "formatting" involved. (even using DirectCD which *claimed* to be drag and drop!)

lastly, any pointers? i see a wide range of brands/prices at a given size. am i safe just buying the cheapest generic?

oh, one last thing, what is the difference between a "flash drive" and "thumb drive" (if any)? they seem to be used interchangeably.

 

Hi

The best backup media is non-changeable, i.e. DVD-R. Use CDBurnerXP and select the slowest burn speed possible, and ensure you do not touch anything but the SIDES of the disk, and immediately store it in a dust proof container (a zippered CD case works great). It also matters which type of DVD-Rs you get... I've always found Verbatim to be the most reliable. Once you do burn the disk, ensure everything is readable. You can use ImgBurn to burn the disk instead of CDBurnerXP if you want, as ImgBurn has a "verify data" thing you can tick, where it will verify that everything on the disk is indeed correct.

CDs/DVDs have a shelf life of about 10 years. If you find one that isn't scratched/smudged that won't read, it's likely because the burning method was incompatible with anything other than the drive used to burn the disk. I've experienced that before.

If you're simply doing a transfer, flash drives are much easier and are fairly reliable. The best thing to do is to purchase a quality flash drive (not some offbrand) that carries a good warranty, make sure you test it out by putting stuff on it and taking it back off before trusting it to keep your important files for a little bit. And yes, if I were you, I'd make multiple backup copies if it's important files (flash drive and DVDs is what I would do).

 

so why is everyone else saying that flash dirves are MORE reliable than DVDs? and why are internal drives trending from traditional disks to "solid state"?

i'm with you that flash sounds flakier, but i'm not sure if various tech reviews agree. do others here concur? anyone using flash drives ONLY as source of backups/archives?

forget 5-10 years, can i reasonably expect flash contents to still be there *2* years from now? in truth, i only need them to last 2 MONTHS or so, till i have everything installed on w/e new PC i buy.

i have a stack of unused DVD-Rs kicking around, so ironically, burning THOSE would actually be cheaper. but i'd REALLY rather not -- even with all the "slowest burn", "verify disk" etc safeguards, i lost like 80% of the disks i burned in the 90s! 80%!!!!

serious coaster trauma.

 

The only people claiming that flash drives are more reliable than whatever else there is are the ones who stand to make money from them. The more often you connect/disconnect them, the greater the risk of losing the data. Solid state drives (SSD's) are really too new to have any idea of their actual real-world longevity.

If your data is valuable to you, make several backups on a regular basis on several media types, store at least one copy away from the machine, if you trust 'the cloud' store a copy there, too.

 

Flash drives are more reliable in that they aren't damaged as easily as DVDs are, and the reading surface isn't physically touched by people. However, taking the proper burning and storing steps with DVDs negates these risks.

Internal drives are going to solid state technology for several reasons. The first reason is speed -- data goes much quicker to and from an SSD versus an HDD. The second reason is power consumption... SSDs use far less battery (this applies mainly to laptops/netbooks/etc.). There are other, minor reasons... but SSDs are NOT advertised as being more reliable than HDDs. Anyway, HDDs are much different than DVDs. Yes, you're still using a spinning disk, but that's like saying a Ferrari and a Hot Wheels car are similar, because they both have four wheels that spin.

Again, my suggestion is to use both a flash drive AND DVD-Rs to backup your media. Not trying to criticize here, but you're likely doing something wrong if you have an 80% failure rate with burned disks. I rarely get a coaster, and I mean RARELY. Less than 1% if I had to give it a number. And the "verify data" feature, and personally checking to make sure the disk works properly ensure that the disk isn't a coaster.

I personally use DVD-Rs and an enterprise-quality grade hard disk for my backups. I never use flash drives for backup -- I use them for what they were designed for -- an small, convenient file container for moving data between machines. I'm not saying not to, I'm just saying I don't. I also email important documents and sometimes pictures to myself in my email account (Gmail: free, tons of storage space) and put an appropriate subject for what the attachment is, so I can easily search for and find it later when I need it.

 

Nice summary

I'd want to check System and Application logs for errors if this was happening to me, there may also be a hardware problem causing this, perhaps PSU or drive.