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Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Flash Media > [Solved] Durability of flash drive storage

[Solved] Durability of flash drive storage

Forum Storage : Flash Media [Solved] Durability of flash drive storage

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lawaczeck   01-06-2012 at 07:13:00 PM

How long does data stored on a flash drive last

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Chainzsaw   01-06-2012 at 08:08:34 PM

It depends on quite a few factors:

The age of the flash drive.

The quality of the flash drive.

How many times you write to it.

Whether or not it has been man-handled (dunked in salt water? not good, stepped on? not good).

If you regularly use a flash drive (say writing at least 2-3 GB a day) - i would say it would last anywhere from 1 to 3 years.

You can make a flash drive last longer by:

Limiting your writes.

Taking care of your flash drive.

Flash drives have a limited number of write cycles - I can't remember how many though.

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lawaczeck   01-13-2012 at 11:22:37 PM

lawaczeck wrote :

How long does data stored on a flash drive last


Thank you!
My question was meant to pertains to how long stored data remain readable if the flashdrive is not abused and no further data are added

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Chainzsaw   01-13-2012 at 11:29:12 PM
Best answer

It could possibly last a long time. I would say a minnimum of 5 years if it goes unused (with data writtin on it).

However, you might want to be careful, if you have important data you want to store for a long time - it's best to make a few copies, say one on a DVD-R, and one on a USB. As it's possible a few years down the road the USB key can become unreadable.

If you do make a copy with a DVD-r make sure to keep it out of direct sunlight as well as extreme heat and cold.

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Chainzsaw   01-13-2012 at 11:40:52 PM

No problem. Just remember with back ups, redundancy is key, you don't want 1 back up to fail just in case, and have a back up plan for your back up :) .

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Area51reopened   01-14-2012 at 02:16:01 AM

This topic has been closed by Area51reopened

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