How reliable are USB flash drives for long-term storage?

My mum has ambitions to be a writer, but has no way at present to back
up her work. Some months ago I suggested that she use a CDRW with InCD,
but was told by the regulars of this group that this is not the most
reliable way to back something up long-term: it is too easy for an open
InCD session to be corrupted.

How reliable would it be for my mum to back up all her work to a USB
flash drive? Realistically, she's never going to fill more than 128Mb,
and I've offered her a good name brand (Crucial-rebranded Samsung).
Has 5 volt EEPROM memory got a good reputation for long term storage?

(For instance, in comparison, 3.5 inch floppy disks are ideal for
day-to-day storage, if a little small by modern standards, but they
aren't so reliable for storing data for years and years.)

 

Don't know about USB flash drives but only having one backup is asking
for trouble, there will be hours/days/weeks/months? of work in that
128MB.

I back up to 3 external hard drives and to DVD RAM, it's not a book but
downloaded s/w I have paid for and about twenty years of source for
programs I have written. I am still at risk because I have no
facilities for keeping any backups off site.

She needs at least two backups and facilities to keep one off site -
perhaps at a relation's house.

 

<snip>
My ISP gives me 250MB of webspace and I back up my data to that using FTP
over my broadband connection. The FTP software operates in "sync" mode so it
only uploads changed files and doesn't take too long. The advantage is that
my stuff is...

(a) backed up;
(b) off-site;
(c) the back up is backed up by my ISP;
(d) I can access my documents from anywhere in the world

 

USB flash drives from some manufacturers claim about 10 years memory
retention and at least 10,000 accesses so in theory it looks good.
BUT they can be susceptible to data corruption if unplugged whilst in use,
they are small, so easily lost, some are flimsy and easily broken.
It is not a good idea to rely on a single device for the backup - eg. with
CDR backups, there would be plenty of previous discs to revert back to if
the last backup were lost or damaged or if a previously saved version of a
file is needed for some reason.

Dave

 

Better than a floppy for sure.

Better still if you copy it to your own comp every now & again.

Btw, it's flash rather than eeprom, which is a different (and less resilient)
technology.

 

Text is tiny. Why not get her to email her drafts out to a couple of
people for them to keep safe? Preferably one of them to someone who
can drive a CD writer.

Cheers - Jaimie

 

Well, get someone to read it, and tell people it's good then!



STM

 

USB memory sticks *should* be more reliable than
floppy disks, but in my experience of supporting them,
there's little in it. I can't put any stats to it yet, but the
same peops whose floppies 'go bad' seem to have
similar problems with CDs, flash drives, 'lost' emails..

 

When I used to try to be creative, everything would go on hard drive,
floppy, and if possible (this was the good old days) CDR. And *every*
substantial edit or addition would also be printed off. Seemed daft at the
time, till the fancy high tech things broke, then it was at least all there,
even if it was a nightmare to type back in, and probably utter crap (was a
hobby, kept me off the streets

 

A. J. Moss wrote in

[snip]

The USB drive would be an acceptable day-to-day backup, but *only if*
there is another backup, updated at least weekly. Why? Flash memory is
generally robust, but the drives are tiny and are easily misplaced or
lost, and while they generally stand up to a fair amount of abuse, they
*can* be damaged.

The 2nd backup could be a cdr (burn it and close the session, do NOT use
packet writing), a 2nd hard drive in the machine, or another possibility
is emailing copies (note the plural) to a couple different web email
accounts -- they could act as an offsite backup and have the added bonus
of accessibility regardless of location.

I suppose the deciding factor is how important the writing is to her.

 

IME, thumb drives are easy to lose. I had one with a loop that hooked to a
lanyard... but the loop broke. I eventually found it in the bottom of my
briefcase, but it was a wake-up call that something that small is easy to
misplace.

 

One policy is to keep a backup on your person. I use both DAT tapes and
a tiny (about 9 x 9 x 1.2cm) USB HDD of 40GB capacity, and keep at least
one on me always. If I have my keys, I have the backup -- and I never
leave without keys. A USB flash "pen" is even more portable.

I did once rely on a USB pen for backup. Plugged it into a computer once
(possibly one that had a problem), and found the flash RAM was wiped
clean. I don't know how it happened, but avoid relying on flash devices.
A similar experience put me off using a formatted CDRW to copy files
onto for backup purposes.

Best wishes,

 

Yes, I really should, perhaps I'll treat myself in the sales

Whoops! That was my concern with the OP's mother relying on only one
backup.

Happy hols

 

Why doesn't she just print it out using acid-free paper and archival
ink and tuck it away in a safety deposit box at some bank. It will
outlast her, it will.

Em

 

My experience, FWIW

1) Purchased 3 pen drives(reputable make) and 1 failed after about 3
days - not even recognised as a drive. Had it replaced, that failedafter
a week. Next replacement ok after about three months, as are the
original two.

2) InCD & similar - the different programs seem mutually incompatible,
and I've had lots of problems reading old data even with the original
program. With CDRs about 20p, why bother?

I have about 2.5Mb of 'working' files and about 100Mb that I would not
like to lose, as well as programs, settings etc. So (mostly done with
one click using batch files):-

Daily - zip working files to floppy. (Errors in reading appear to be due
to mechanical wear of drives rather that the disk itself.)
Weekly - burn 2 CDs. Other CD sent to a friend to look after, as I look
after his spare copy.
Quarterly or after changes - burn DVD with everything on hard disk,
zipped.
Pen drives are kept up to date, but it'll be a while before I trust
them.
An old hard disk is in the PC; a batch file backs everything up to this
with one click, sets it read-only.

!!Most important of all: check regularly that your method still works &
that you can get the data back!!

I would suggest either encrypting and/or signing all files before
copying; this would also serve as proof of authorship for a writer if
required in the future. It's not difficult to set up a simple batch file
to do this as well as copying. If I lose a pen drive, I don't want
anyone reading my letters, bank account numbers etc.

In theory, I'm proof against hard disk or Windows crashes, theft of PC,
house burning down, etc; so naturally something else will happen...

Hope this helps, Dave

 

I totally agree. The first few months I had it I forgot several times
to retrieve it from the computer of my relatives. Once, I forgot it at
a semi-public place, but it was retrieved by an employee before a
thief could get to it. I eventually learned to keep it in mind.

 

It's been a while, but def different, eeprom slower access and higher
program voltage. This memory is a bit more vague, but I think it is also
less dense and used to suffer from fewer programming cycles. IIRC its
advantage is that it can be integrated with other processes whereas flash
cannot. 'll leave you to google for the fine detail if reqd ;-)

 

Beware USB ports at floor level combined with castors on chairs. I
learned the hard way...total separation of the silver bit from the
other bit. Although I see that they are now doing "empty" pen drives
that you can put your own card in.

http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductsList.asp?Name=pen+drive

Second one up from the bottom.

 

They are very reliable.

I had a friend who I used to work with at a college in N.E. Calgary and he
said that the USB flashes comes very handy when you have documents on it.
If you were doing a document that was in that usb flash drive, and someone
turns off the computer, you should still have the copy in the USB flash.

 

I've just, or rather SWMBO, has just put my 512 mb Easy Disk through the
washing machine. Result is one clean and functional pen drive, with an added
bonus that there cannot be any spyware in my washing machine, as the full
antispyware suite was in the drive at the time(Spybot S&D, AdAware SE, &
SpywareBlaster.