I had one of my 1GB flash drives fry on me tonight. Luckily, nothing I need was stored on it, but it reminded me of something I haven't thought about for a while: Make sure you have multiple backups!

If you store any important information in an electronic medium, make sure you have more than one backup, preferably in multiple forms!

On a side note, after reading up on flash technology, it seems like most normal consumer drives are made to last for about 10,000 read/write cycles and 1,500 connections. Therefore, using your usb drive as little as 1500 times could be enough to kill it. That's something to keep in mind if you plan on using a USB drive for long term information storage.

Just thought I would mention it on here, in case anyone is putting off backing their data or only has it backed up on one drive.

Have your information backed up for free by mailing it to yourself. Mail providers now provide gigabytes of storage. Mail it to a few just in case.
The Sock

After doing a bit of quick research it's more like 100,000 writes. I didn't see any reference to the number of connections and I've never heard that before.

You could completely rewrite your flash drive once an hour for the next 11 years and you wouldn't reach maximum number of rewrites. Of course that doesn't mean any part in the device can't just go bad (includeing the flash). It is electronics afterall and it's prone to failure.

Hard drives (and flash drives) should be backed up on a regular basis at a frequency dependant on how often your data changes. I have a second hard drive in my PC for the sole purpose of doing a scheduled nightly backup of my primary hard drive to it. The theory being that the chances of both hard drives going bad at the same time are pretty slim. If either goes I still have the other. Hard drives will fail when you least expect it. I'm astounded by the people who never backup their hard drive. I've helped a number of people with their PC who I've had to inform them that, "yes, you've lost all your pictures".

I back up automatically in real time using Drive HG (www.drivehq.com), works great.

Good advice.

But last I checked 1500 connections worked out to once a day, every day, for over four years. In a high use model four times a day for a year.

A few things come to mind. First, multiple backups of important materials is always a good idea and this is your ultimate safety net. Second, if it is a frequently used drive with relatively valuable materials on it you might consider simply replacing it on a set schedule so it is renewed before it gives up. Don't forget to wipe, destroy or lock up the old thumb drive if your making copies you don't need. You don't want you private information to get into the wrong hands. Lastly that expected life of 1500 connections is likely based on average conditions.

Taking better than average care of the way these connections are mechanically and electrically made could considerably increase the expected life. Selecting a thumb drive that includes a good cap that will exclude dust and wear would be a good start. Of course high quality name-brand drives are likely to be a bit better made and have better plating on the contacts. Also most any electrical connections wear less if the contacts are well cleaned, lubricated with a contact conditioner and the gold plating protected with a preservative.

Caig makes a widely respected selection of contact cleaners and conditioners. I have had good luck using these products. On everything from battery contacts and circuit board connectors. The difference is often quite remarkable.

There are also on-line backup services, some free, and good old cd's.

Teacher

I bought an expensive brand name one that had a two year warranty and it quit after 18 months. It was replaced and that went another 18 months. I buy the cheap ones now.

Online backups might be ok if you don't have much data, I have years of pictures, bank records, etc.
Time to restore is also an issue, espically if you had to bug out like people in NOLA. If I were to bug out to the farm I'd be trying to restore across a 24-36k dial up.

I burn dvd's currently, just sent a set down with my parents, it took 5 dvd's just for all my pictures. I'm burning single layer because I don't have any dual layer drives except the burner.

I still keep some of my most important files on flash, I've switched over to microsd because my phone and gps use it. So I found a small usb microsd reader that was the same size as a flash drive and replaced my flash drive with it. As I buy newer bigger cards for either the phone or gps I put the old into backup rotation.

I use a second hard drive and every 2-months (or when I make a important change in data) or so I burn data to a new CD. I know CD’s are older way of doing it, but it’s a solid technology.

Where's this 1500 connection limit coming from. The fragile part of the device is the re-writes of the flash memory. If that lasts 100,000 times what part is wearing out after 1500 connections? I've never heard of this limitation and I can't find any other reference to it.


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After doing some more looking I did find that the manufacturer of the USB connector itself must guarantee at least 1500 connections. I couldn't find any data on what the actual failure rate.

*All* connectors have a limited number of lifetime insertions for various reasons, usually from the conductor being literally rubbed off or the contacts losing "springiness" to make good contact.

An example of a really small lifetime rating is a CPU socket in a computer which might be rated at only 5 lifetime insertions.

1500 sounds reasonable for a USB socket though I can't recall what the USB spec calls for. If you somehow manage to wear it out recovering the data won't be hard with a soldering iron and a couple of wires. I wouldn't worry about it.

10,000 lifetime writes was a common spec for flash memory a dozen years ago but modern parts spec 100,000 writes.

PS. The usual "gotcha" that many hobbyists first run into is usually the 4-pin molex power connector on old ATA hard disks and CD-ROM drives. The plugs have a lifespan of maybe a dozen inserts and I've found that's true. But USB is much better designed than this.