“Someone posted on the review for this flash drive that it's safer than a external hard drive. How is that? I've never heard that comment about a flash drive versus hard drive.”
Answer This Question
1-10 of 10 Answers
All hard drives (including external) have moving parts Flash drives on the other hand don't. If any of the moving parts fail the hard drive turns into a paper weight and you lose your data. This is more likely to happen with external hard drives because they get moved around. Think about like using a old portable cd player. If you moved the the player while in use you could end up damaging the the disc: then you could no longer use it. If you shake it the music would skip. Now think about listening to music from your phone. Your cell phone uses flash memory just like this "flash drive" If you started flipping your phone around nothing gets damaged (unless you drop it lol) and the music does not skip. So flash memory including this "flash drive" are safer because they are less prone to failure. at lease that's my opinion.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Flash drives aren't immune to failures. Much like hard drives, USB flash drives can also fail. The only difference is their mode of failure. Short of giving a lecture on flash memory cells, flash memory itself breaks through a process called hysteresis. This means that reading, writing, and erasing data to flash memory causes wear and tear on the actual flash memory cell itself. This wear and tear is cumulative, resulting in memory cell failures that "build up" over time. As more memory cells die, total storage capacity is reduced. In some cases, the memory cells can die and lose the data stored within them. Flash memory is robust. But don't fool yourself into believing that it's robustness over traditional hard drives makes it invincible or impervious to failures. We haven't even mentioned flash memory controller corruption issues.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Neither is safer, always have a backup on hand.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.As a solid state drive it has no moving parts where most hard drives have mechanical parts. Devices with moving parts tend to fail more frequently than solid state ones. They also tend to run cooler. Small size makes them easier to protect, but much easier to lose.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.My thought - the flash drive is “static”; no moving parts. A typical hard drive (NOT the SSD variety) has a platter (disc) that spins on the enclosure. They would be more susceptible to damage if tossed into a briefcase or, heaven forbid, dropped. Personally, I use both external hard drives and flash drive depending on my assessment of the best for a particular task. I hope this helps.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.The only thing that comes to my mind is external hard drives typically have discs, whereas a thumb drive is a SSD. Traditional hard drives are susceptible to damage if dropped or if coffee spills on it. A thumb drive is more bullet proof. I once dropped an external drive when i was moving cubes at work and it stopped working.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.A flash drive has no moving parts. An external drive unless it is a SSD (solid state drive) has a motor and drive heads that can be damaged by an impact.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.It is safer in that it is solid-state vs. rotating platter storage. However, disk drives are smarter now. Many models can sense they are falling and protect themselves before impact. The caveat with flash drives is that the contents can decay over long periods of time. I don't know details; it probably varies from drive to drive. It's something to keep in mind though, as it's not widely known.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.This USB flash drive has a built in application that stores sensitive documents in a "vault". Access to the vault requires a password to access those files. Also flash drives are solid state so there is no moving parts. Some of the older external hard drives have motors, which can fail later on down the road.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.They may have been referring to the encryption software that sometimes comes with these drives. To my knowledge they are not any safer than an external drive.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.