# How reliable are USB flash drives, compared to other storage mediums? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619 "2005-08-04T21:03:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/21 "2005-08-05T03:34:00Z")
Indeed. I just bought a Palm Zire 31 today. ( I don’t tend to go for the hot new toys. This one was priced $ 129.97- at Radio Shack- as I was told today by the flirty gal- any price ending in a 7 and not a 9 signifies a discontinued item. ) Since my fancypants new PDA is capable of playing MP3’s, I bought a 1 Gig card for it. Pricey little sliver of silicon too, if I may be so bold. Cost me a hunnerd. Get this- they offered me a warranty for it for a year for ten bucks. This is my first tiny memory card experience, so I asked the flirty gal why they sold a warranty for what appeared to basically be an inert sliver of silicon. She said they fail. A lot. And people get mad. So my ten smackeroos will get me a new one. Since the MP3’s are all backed up elsewhere, the failure of said inert sliver of silicon won’t make me insane the way the loss of data would. I have had a 128 USB stick for quite a few years. I have, at various times, had PDF, MS Word, JPEG, MP3 and other various and sundry things parked on it. I have never had a file loss or corruption. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/22 "2005-08-05T04:14:07Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > She said they fail. A lot. And people get mad. So my ten smackeroos will get me a new one. Since the MP3’s are all backed up elsewhere, the failure of said inert sliver of silicon won’t make me insane the way the loss of data would. The gall of this absolutely amazes me. They say, in effect, “Please buy this great product from us for $100. Oh, by the way, the product is crap and fails all the time, so you should probably pay more to get a warranty.” If it fails in the first year—provided you don’t mistreat it—then it should be replaced free of charge. Was it a Radio Shack brand? If not, does the manufacturer offer a warranty on their product? ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/23 "2005-08-06T02:18:23Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > A “computer expert” told me it’s important to remove the flash drive the right way, not just pull it out of the USB port willy nilly. > > According to Mr. CS, you should right click on the “remove hardware” icon at the bottom of your screen and then “stop” the drive. I’m not sure I am buying that. > > Can anybody confirm or refute? I can certainly confirm that. You should always eject any media before removing them from the machine. It is a file system thing. Most times you get away with it, but every once in a while you will lose files, and very occasionally you will lose the file system (all the files). It is a pain to eject-especially on a PC. But worth it. I think but am not sure that the damage is cumulative. yank it out repeatedly and the file system damage builds up. Not sure about that though. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/24 "2005-08-06T15:09:34Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > It is a pain to eject-especially on a PC. Well… it depends on the manufacturer or the driver or something. My iPod shuffle, for example, I just right-click and hit “eject” in the whatever-you-call-an-XP-Finder-window. The generic drives given out by my company, though, you have to go through the whole dang “safely remove hardware” spiel. What you stop? The drive? The USB device? Hell, I don’t know. I do know, though, that they don’t have the plain, simple, one step “eject” option like the iPod does. Now there’s nothing at all special about the iPod; I imagine it just uses a slightly different driver for some reason (and I’ve never installed a driver on my work XP machine). My external Firewire/USB drive at home will right-click-eject just fine when connected to either the USB or the cheap-o FireWire card under XP. Since USB thumb drives are near ubiquitous now, shouldn’t it be easier? And don’t tell me to get a Mac, damn it. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/25 "2005-08-06T15:19:56Z")
A single click on the USB icon in the system tray when a device is attached, then a click in the popup bubble and away you go. Quick enough, I would have thought. ---
**Author:** ![Voluble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/4af34b/32.png) [@Voluble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voluble)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/26 "2005-08-06T17:11:56Z")
Just to give the other side of the story. We had a couple of pen/thumb/whateveryoucallthemdrives fail at work. I mean they failed to work in any way shape or form after having worked flawlessly for some time before. We think we traced the problem to the USB port on a particular computer but we aren’t too keen on wasting another card to perform a definitive test so we just put that computer off limits to USB drives. So far we have had no further failures. Has anyone else experienced a a similar problem? Oh, and yes, they can survive a trip through the washing machine. As handy as it is to get so much data onto such a small medium it is awful tempting just to shove them into your pocket instead of your briefcase sometimes. The fact that many of them have keychains attached doesn’t help matters any. I imagine that keychain business ends up getting them several repeat sales that they wouldn’t otherwise get. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/27 "2005-08-06T17:41:47Z")
> [@Voluble](#): > > Just to give the other side of the story. We had a couple of pen/thumb/whateveryoucallthemdrives fail at work. I mean they failed to work in any way shape or form after having worked flawlessly for some time before. We think we traced the problem to the USB port on a particular computer but we aren’t too keen on wasting another card to perform a definitive test so we just put that computer off limits to USB drives. So far we have had no further failures. > > Has anyone else experienced a a similar problem? **Oh, and yes, they can survive a trip through the washing machine.** As handy as it is to get so much data onto such a small medium it is awful tempting just to shove them into your pocket instead of your briefcase sometimes. The fact that many of them have keychains attached doesn’t help matters any. I imagine that keychain business ends up getting them several repeat sales that they wouldn’t otherwise get. MP3-players don’t fare so well in the washing machine! ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/28 "2005-08-06T18:34:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Indeed. I just bought a Palm Zire 31 today. ( I don’t tend to go for the hot new toys. This one was priced $ 129.97- at Radio Shack- as I was told today by the flirty gal- any price ending in a 7 and not a 9 signifies a discontinued item. )… - - - Some blatant opinions: 1. I was going to say a number of rude things here, but let me be adult and just state that “the product quality, pricing and commission-sales policies of Radio Shack are not advantageous to the consumer”. I will buy small parts there in an emergency because it’s close and convenient, but otherwise I stay away. … 2. **Flash media is usually considerably cheaper online**. I just ordered a couple USB drives online, a $40 512-meg for me and a $15 128-meg for a friend who said they needed one too; local stores charge $40+ for a 128-meg stick. Obviously you have different brands and models priced differently, but still, _these are impulse items and **all** walk-in stores charge a huge markup on them_, even stores that have fairly decent prices on other larger items. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/29 "2005-08-07T20:28:40Z")
I have to respect your opinion even if it makes no sense to me. The device is not manufactured by Radio Shack, it’s manufactured by palmOne, Inc. The price was excellent, the accessories priced close to what I find elsewhere. Sorry if you have had ill experiences with Radio Shack. However, this is not The Pit- it’s a thread about flash drives and memory and computer parts. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/30 "2005-08-17T12:24:11Z")
Sorry to resurrect this somewhat elderly thread, but I still have a question. Is there a rough guideline to how often (in years) I should replace my USB drive? Do they normally degrade with age, or only with use? Most replies so far have focused on use and abuse, not simply age. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/31 "2005-08-17T17:52:23Z")
> [@Sophistry and Illusion](#): > > Sorry to resurrect this somewhat elderly thread, but I still have a question. Is there a rough guideline to how often (in years) I should replace my USB drive? Do they normally degrade with age, or only with use? Most replies so far have focused on use and abuse, not simply age. Can’t help you there as i have only been using one for a few months but I’m sure someone else will be along soon that has one that Moses passed on to them. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/32 "2005-08-17T18:09:47Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > I can certainly confirm that. > You should always eject any media before removing them from the machine. It is a file system thing. Most times you get away with it, but every once in a while you will lose files, and very occasionally you will lose the file system (all the files). It is a pain to eject-especially on a PC. But worth it. I think but am not sure that the damage is cumulative. yank it out repeatedly and the file system damage builds up. Not sure about that though. I disagree, kinda-sorta. It is very media and OS dependent. For Windows: If the media is no longer being written to, and the application (e.g. Word) that is writing the file no longer has the file open, then you can yank and go without doing the “remove hardware” (Windows may get cranky and complain with a dialog box, but Windows just likes to whine). Windows will often hold open a “~” temp file on the media until you close it within the application, and this can cause problems. Some things are aweful, like floppies, and others are very robust, like zip drives. My iPod, however, is touchy as all hell. If I try to unplug or plug without all of the application, files, moon, planets, and tea leaves being in perfect alignment then I have to do an install/repair/update. I’ve never yet had a problem with Linux and USB media though, I hot plug and unplug all of the time. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/33 "2005-08-17T18:11:52Z")
> [@Sophistry and Illusion](#): > > Sorry to resurrect this somewhat elderly thread, but I still have a question. Is there a rough guideline to how often (in years) I should replace my USB drive? Do they normally degrade with age, or only with use? Most replies so far have focused on use and abuse, not simply age. I think your question was somewhat answered earlier. Use the drives to store temporary data, not for long term storage. Temporary may mean days, weeks, or months, but it’s still temporary. Never put “your only copy” of anything on a Flash drive. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619/34 "2005-11-16T15:03:13Z")
Sorry for the repeated resurrection, but I just wanted to say: there can be another problem with not ejecting it the right way. Specifically, the other day I was taking some files to the party office and attempted to use my USB drive; however, it wasn’t recognized immediately. I looked in the “stop hardware” function and found that the system thought there were several USB devices already connected – apparently ones that had been connected and then removed. I finished the “stop” process, eliminating the traces of the other devices, and reinserted my USB drive, and it worked like a charm. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reliable-are-usb-flash-drives-compared-to-other-storage-mediums/315619.md?page=1)