The Durability Of Usb Sticks

By Author: Simon Britten
Total Articles: 9
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With external hard drives containing much the same technology as that inside a desktop or laptop, their susceptibility to accidental or even malicious damage is obvious. With platters, spindles and read and write heads amongst the moving parts, there is quite a lot that can go wrong if one should be dropped on a hard floor. There is also the headache of losing all of the data on the drive should disaster occur.

USB sticks, with their ever-increasing capacity and reduction in price, are increasingly replacing magnetic hard disk portable drives as the preferred choice of users. Their relatively simple design belies the capability available, being hardly more than a small printed circuit board and an electrically insulated USB connector, all protected by a metal, plastic, or rubber case.

This very design, with a distinct lack of moving parts, gives the USB stick a number of advantages over other external hard drives. For a start, they require very little power and this, coupled with the lack of any motion, means little heat is produced. UBS Sticks also keep the stored data free from dust and related scratches, ...
... are not vulnerable to strong magnetic fields, shock, or vibration and don’t suffer from the fragmentation that occurs when clusters of files on a hard disk are not physically located next to each other.

There have been some interesting experiments carried out to test the durability of certain specially designed USB sticks including submerging them in water. TV’s Gadget Show even managed to successfully retrieve data from one that had been cooked, frozen, dipped in acidic liquids, run over by a vehicle, and finally fired against a wall.

With an already established reputation for durability and the continuing advances in design, newer versions are now being produced with much higher estimated lifetimes. Therefore, some manufacturers are now able to offer warranties of five years or more, which brings USB sticks into consideration for operations that have historically required a magnetic disk.

The advantages of USB sticks in respect of convenience, size, weight, and flexibility have always been evident. The sheer ability to be able to carry around a considerable amount of stored data on the end of a key ring was once the stuff of dreams. The fact that they are also extremely robust and able to withstand the sort of treatment that would render a magnetic external hard drive useless is just one more reason to use them.

Simon is part of the Bespoke USB team. Bespoke USB is the only place you need to visit for branded USB flash drives. Make a statement for your business with your own custom USB design. Visit our site today.