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Flash storage has many obvious advantages:

  • zero random access latency
  • portability and robustness
  • highest speed possible
  • most diverse form factors and sizes possible (ranging from MicroSD to RAID SSD)

But flash storage's weakness is data retention, and flash storage with higher density (e.g. multi-layer cell technology, 128 GB on a MicroSD card, thus physically very small sectors) because of the way flash storage works: storing electrical charges using transistors.

These extremely small transistors in flash storage lose their electrical charge over time, which is recoverable to some degree thanks to error correction code of each sector that the storage controller of the flash storage handles on the next read of the sector by refreshing the electrical charge. Some flash storage (and I guess pretty much all SSD's, but rarely SD cards) also do that automatically when idle (plugged in but not in use).

But I already have occasionally lost data years ago because I relied a little too much on flash storage and created backups too little aggressively.

Also, flash storage is the most vulnerable in case of power surges and faulty adapters (e.g. SD-to-USB adapters, USB hubs), where failed write accesses could lead to file system header corruption.

Flash storage has the best portability, is a very practical way of file transportation and maybe for redundant backups, but should better not be solely relied upon.

Also read:

Flash storage has many obvious advantages: * zero random access latency * portability and robustness * highest speed possible * most diverse form factors and sizes possible (ranging from MicroSD to RAID SSD) But flash storage's weakness is data retention, and flash storage with higher density (e.g. *multi-layer cell* technology, 128 GB on a MicroSD card, thus physically very small sectors) because of the way flash storage works: storing electrical charges using transistors. These extremely small transistors in flash storage lose their electrical charge over time, which is recoverable to some degree thanks to error correction code of each sector that the storage controller of the flash storage handles on the next read of the sector by refreshing the electrical charge. Some flash storage (and I guess pretty much all SSD's, but rarely SD cards) also do that automatically when idle (plugged in but not in use). But I already have occasionally lost data years ago because I relied a little too much on flash storage and created backups too little aggressively. Also, flash storage is the most vulnerable in case of power surges and faulty adapters (e.g. SD-to-USB adapters, USB hubs), where failed write accesses could lead to file system header corruption. ---- Flash storage has the best portability, is a very practical way of file transportation and maybe for **redundant** backups, but should better not be **solely** relied upon. Also read: [Optical media is heavily underrated — little known advantages.](https://poal.co/s/TellPoal/148944)

(post is archived)

[–] • 2 pts

I use a three layered system for data.

  1. On my PC
  2. External HD
  3. Cloud storage
[–] • 2 pts

Since time immemorial IT has used the 3-2-1 methodology for backups:

  • 3 copies

  • At least 2 different types of media

  • 1 copy stored off-site

Cloud storage is great until suddenly you can't get access to it for whatever reason. You may want to consider a 4th copy that is under your control.

[–] • 1 pt

I was a sysadmin for years. I have more than a few stories of "My flash drive isn't working, can you help me?" and not a single one of them ended well. They are great for convenient temporary storage and that was the problem: Users liked that convenience so much that they relied on flash drives for all of their off-line storage needs. I've not had a single flash drive survive more than 3 years of use, and many have failed in less than 6 months. Yet user after user had spent their precious money on a flash drive that at the time was large and expensive and it became their not only the most useful thing they owned but their hugest single point of fail.

To most of the users that lost data it was just a minor inconvenience, a couple were serious but we eventually came up with a suitable work around. But one girl who was doing her GPA part time while working had ALL of the data from a crucial to her graduating project that she'd been working on for 6 months on a single flash drive. She came to see me when it stopped working. The thing was literally just the USB plug and the circuitry; all of the cover had been broken off. "How long has it been like this?" I asked "<shrugs> Oh a little while, I don't know".

Anyhow the thing was toast and she was royally screwed. End of story.

[–] • 0 pt

Thank you for the quality comment.

[–] • 0 pt

I've not had a single flash drive survive more than 3 years of use, and many have failed in less than 6 months.

I have flash drives and SD cards from my childhood (older than 10 years) that still work, and a few (especially by the brand Hama, which I can't trust accordingly) where files went corrupt after a few months.

[–] • 1 pt

Yeah IDK why my failure rate with flash drive seems higher than the norm. But I've met people who have had even worse luck with them so my take away is that they are wildly variable.

SD cards however have been pretty solid for me. Regardless I treat them the same, ie. they are for temporary or non-critical storage only.

FWIW I've had some luck bringing bad flash drives back to life with a program called SD Card Formatter. The data is gone of course, but in perhaps 1/4 of the cases the drive is usable again.

[–] • 0 pt

File system reformatting can only make the device completely useable again if there is no actual hardware damage.

[–] • 0 pt

If you're using them a lot, lots of R-W cycles, you're probably killing them. Flash drives have a very limited write cycle life. My employer found that out when they tried to use no-name cheapies in data collection devices that wrote once a minute. Average life was a couple of months.

[–] • 1 pt

I use portable hard drives, every couple years the cost goes down for a larger drive and I buy one. I copy everything on the old drive to the new drive and start using the new drive. I’m up to a 2 tb drive now, have about 6 old drives, my oldest data is on all of them. Solid state flash as a hard drive is best, and it only holds my os. All cloud storage, especially Google, have lost my files.

[–] • 0 pt

All cloud storage, especially Google, have lost my files.

That's sad. How did it happen?

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

flash storage is the most vulnerable in case of power surges

i have a ups, its like sine something idk, it cleans shit out so it cannot surge

[–] • 1 pt

Thinking a UPS protects your flash drive is foolish. That UPS protects the PC only. All it takes is a single static discharge to fry the data on your flash drive. Not to mention the USB port it's plugged into could go wonky and send out a spike, or as someone else points out the PSU could fail and spike. A flash drive is a single point of failure, if there's anything important on it then either have another copy or be prepared for grief and it's not if but when.

[–] • 1 pt

most decent psu have internal stuff in them to prevent spikes from getting in and out from them if they fail, i think they called

(OCP) Over-Current Protection Over-current protection (OCP) is a popular protection found in all PSUs with multiple +12V rails, and in most cases, it also protects the minor rails. OCP kicks in when the current in the rails surpasses a certain limit.

.

Over Current / Voltage / Temperature / Power Protection, Under Voltage Protection and Short Circuit Protection

thats the protection for my rosewill photon 750

plus it is getting very clean power from my ups.

my power is a little sketchy here, but has gotten better. my lights will flicker sometimes but i have no worries

and i aint all in there brushing it off, lol. i use low compressed air from a distance, there usually not much cause my case has filters on every opening.

My CPU is a neural-net processor. A learning computer.

[–] • 1 pt

Overcurrent protection will shut the voltage rail off if it detects too much current being drawn from the device. This is to protect the regulators from damage. USB ports usually have something similar, they will shut down power if too much is drawn from the port. It just shuts the device off and you usually have to power cycle to reset it. If you have this happen often, you've undersized your supply or it's old, dirty, overheating, or a combination of the three.

The voltage input of a power supply is able to tolerate quite a bit of fluctuation, 100-240VAC is not uncommon these days. If you're in the USA then you're probably never going to see >140VAC on your normal household line. The power supply doesn't give a shit, modern switchers are tolerant by design. It's really high voltage, like lightning, that will still do them in.

A UPS protects from brownouts (<100VAC) or complete failures, and is merely designed to give you some time to shut down safely. Not all UPSes are the same, some provide clean power from the batteries (the output is always run on the inverter,) some just try to switch and hope for the best.

[–] • 1 pt

Yes all of this is good, but HW fails to do what its supposed to do all of the time. And there are lots of other reasons why a flash drive might go south, static electricity for example. Presumably your data is important, I can only hope that you have back up copies.

Ask me about the top end UPS we had installed on a server that we tested monthly and everything appeared A-1. And then one weekend the power went out and the UPS didn't kick in. There were 7 VMs on that server, 3 of which were critical.

[–] [deleted] • 0 pt

But if your PSU fails, it might fail overvoltage.

[–] • 0 pt

A good power supply should shut itself off, if it detects overvoltage.

Also, quality computer parts are supposed to interrupt the circuit if they detect an inappropriate voltage, like mobile phones do.

But at some point, overvoltage always leads to failiure.

[–] • 0 pt

Great.

Of course, one can install protective devices.

But many people don't.