what is better, a large capacity flash disk or external hard drive?
i want to purchase a storage facility for backup purposes, and am in a dilemma as to
whether to purchase a flash memory disk of large capacity, or an external hard disk drive. i
have been informed that a flash memory has a limited number of read erase cycles. please
advise me on the one that is most reliable.
Yes, flash memories have a "limited number" – but for modern flash, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of writes, or more. It’s only "limited" in comparison to the basically infinite rewrite abilities of RAM and oxide-based hard drives. Unless you’re backing up your system every 30 seconds continuously for months, it shouldn’t be an issue.
Focus more on price, whether the flash/drive is big enough for backing up what you need backed up (paying for 150G of drive when you only have 4G of data to back up is silly), and convenience (a 4G flash drive will easily fit in your pocket – or even on your keychain), and whether the backup software you’re planning to use understands a flash opr external drive…
With the external you will save some coin (since $ for $, flash is much more expensive). Although flash is solid state, and is much easier to carry around. So if you can spare the $, I’d say go flash, just dont lose it!
References :
Yes, flash memories have a "limited number" – but for modern flash, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of writes, or more. It’s only "limited" in comparison to the basically infinite rewrite abilities of RAM and oxide-based hard drives. Unless you’re backing up your system every 30 seconds continuously for months, it shouldn’t be an issue.
Focus more on price, whether the flash/drive is big enough for backing up what you need backed up (paying for 150G of drive when you only have 4G of data to back up is silly), and convenience (a 4G flash drive will easily fit in your pocket – or even on your keychain), and whether the backup software you’re planning to use understands a flash opr external drive…
References :