# What's the difference between an external SSD and a standard memory stick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-an-external-ssd-and-a-standard-memory-stick/731360 "2015-09-15T14:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-an-external-ssd-and-a-standard-memory-stick/731360/1 "2015-09-15T14:28:11Z")
Hi everyone. This sounds like a silly question… but if I bought a) an external USB3 Solid State Disk, such as one of [these](http://http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=1tb+ssd+external&tag=hydrukspg-21&index=aps&hvadid=74014132709&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2328592704515160455&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=m&ref=pd_sl_48ebrmzus0_b) and b) a USB3 memory stick such as [this](http://http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00SOL9ZLC/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1442327173&sr=8-2&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=usb3+memory+stick&dpPl=1&dpID=31bWc9b4yoL&ref=plSrch), what are the technological differences between them? They’re both “solid state” and both connect over USB - are external SSDs basically big thumb drives, or is there some other fundamental difference in the technology? Thanks in advance 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-an-external-ssd-and-a-standard-memory-stick/731360/2 "2015-09-15T15:02:42Z")
> **[The Difference Between SSD and Flash Hard Drives](https://danielmiessler.com/p/the-difference-between-ssd-and-flash-hard-drives/)** > > Many are confused by the difference between SSD hard drives and flash hard drives. This should clear it up. Basics SSD stands for Solid State Disk, and it means What it really comes down to: > [@](#): > > USB thumb drives have used Flash storage for a long time as well, but the quality of the Flash storage in those is typically much lower than the Flash memory used in SSDs. This means much worse performance, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-an-external-ssd-and-a-standard-memory-stick/731360/3 "2015-09-15T16:04:15Z")
The big difference in an SSD is that it is designed for a significant number of write cycles. Flash memory wears out, and has a limited number of times it can be written to before it starts to die. Making the flash memory live longer - ie accept more writes - is in competition with memory density, speed, and cost. SSD systems use a reasonably sophisticated controller that tries to even out the writes over the flash memory (wear levelling) and they tend to use flash memory chips that are rated for more write cycles from the outset. They also are provisioned with an excess of flash memory over the amount made available for use - giving them the ability to swap in a fresh page of memory when another is starting to wear out. A USB thumb drive will tend to use the cheapest controller and flash memory, and will have dramatically fewer write cycles available to it than an SSD. (Even SSDs are not all born equal - those intended for enterprise use are significantly more expensive again than ordinary SSDs, and have orders of magnitude more write cycles available.) If you tried to use a USB thumb drive as a conventional disk in a computer, you would see it die in a depressingly short amount of time. I have seen this happen. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-an-external-ssd-and-a-standard-memory-stick/731360/4 "2015-09-15T16:09:08Z")
Also SSDs have the flash chips distributed across 4-8 “channels” of the controller, so writes and reads from the flash memory is a hell of a lot faster. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-an-external-ssd-and-a-standard-memory-stick/731360/5 "2015-09-15T16:59:57Z")
Both are based on the same technology. The SSD just uses better components, like chips & controller. If you want a comparison, think of this boat as the [USB Memory Stick](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/63/1d/b1/631db14494b1c42a778849dccc616e08.jpg) and [this boat as the SSD](http://luxus.welt.de/sites/default/files/styles/giant-teaser/public/img/jeff_brown-6146_g.jpg?itok=kx9tmXpV) - both boats do float 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-an-external-ssd-and-a-standard-memory-stick/731360/6 "2015-09-16T08:44:26Z")
Thanks everyone 🙂