USB Flash Drives: How they stack up against other storage options


Flash Drive: Plug a USB Flash Drive into a computer's USB port and use it to save files by dragging them to the drive's desktop icon, usually without additional software or setup. The drive is powered through the USB port, and uses no batteries or power cord. Because it is compatible with most PCs, USB Flash Drives can be used to share information between computers, or to bring documents between work and home, often eliminating the need to transport laptops back and forth.

• Size/Care: Roughly the size of a pack of gum and weighing a few ounces, USB Flash Drives come with a durable case (sometimes attached), and are small and sturdy enough to be worn on a necklace, key chain, or carried in a pocket.
  
  
• Capacity: Available in a range of storage capacities, from 16 megabytes, up to four gigabytes of data - about six times the storage space of a compact disk, or enough space to hold 500 songs in MP3 format.

External Hard Drive: An external hard drive plugs into a computer's peripheral port to provide extra hard drive storage space. These devices usually need additional software to be functional. External hard drives vary in size and shape and are somewhat portable.

• Size/Care: Although they can be easily attached and detached from a computer, most require power source, such as an AC adapter, making them not as readily portable as a self-contained USB Flash Drive. External hard drives can be used on multiple computers if each is configured properly, but should be transported with care due to internal moving parts.
  
  
• The Bottom Line: Compact, ready-to-use USB Flash Drives are a better choice for daily storage and transfer of digital assets because external hard drives are larger and more delicate, and often need additional software to make them work from machine to machine.

CD/DVD Storage: When using optical storage like CD or DVD media, digital or data information is "burned" into the disc using a dedicated drive. Whether you burn to a write-once disc (information is stored permanently) or a rewritable disc (you can rewrite as often as needed) compatibility may become an issue when you go to playback your disc.

• Capacity:
  DVD - 4.7 gigabytes
  Double Layer DVD - 8.5 gigabytes
  CD - 700 megabytes
  
  
• Care: Optical media should be handled with care and stored in a case to avoid surface scratches that can damage the disk and data.
  
  
• The Bottom Line: USB Flash drives provide a fast, efficient way to keep important digital assets close at hand for transport and file sharing. Unlike, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs where saved data becomes permanent, files can be added and deleted from a Flash Drive again and again. Because it takes more than double the time to burn a CD or DVD than to save files to a Flash Drive, optical media is best used for permanent archiving and long-term storage of files.

ZIP Disks: Think of a Zip disk as a higher-capacity (commonly 100MB) diskette that requires a dedicated ZIP drive to use it. As with a standard diskette, files are dragged and dropped to the Zip icon to save them.

• Capacity: Zip disks have from100 megabytes of storage space for personal use, up to 750 megabytes for industrial applications.
  
  
• Care: A little bigger and thicker than a standard diskette, Zip disks should be carried in a case to protect data and moving parts from the elements.
  
  
• The Bottom Line: Many more computers have USB ports than have Zip drives, making USB Flash Drives a more universal storage and transfer option. Larger capacity USB Flash Drives make it possible to bring along more data than a Zip disk can hold.

Floppy Diskettes: Storing data on a diskette is similar to saving files on a USB Flash Drive -- just drag-and-drop the files to a desktop icon to save them. Today, few manufacturers make notebook PCs with floppy drives, so it can be a challenge to use them for file sharing.

• Capacity: A standard diskette holds 1.44 megabytes of data. By comparison, a 256 MB Flash Drive will hold as much data as 177 floppy disks.
  
  
• Care: Diskettes contain moving parts, which could be harmed without careful handling and should be carried in a case for protection from the elements. When you factor in the size of a case, diskettes are bulky to be carried in a pocket, as you could with a USB Flash Drive.
  
  
• The Bottom Line: Saving, transporting and sharing files is more efficient using a USB Flash Drive because USB ports are more common than diskette drives on new machines, making USB Flash Drives almost universally usable. Flash Drives were designed to be portable - worn on a necklace or key chain - while diskettes should be carried in a case for protection. They are also faster, quieter, and more secure.

Flash Memory Cards: Flash memory cards employ the same solid-state technology as USB Flash Drives but are typically used to store digital assets in consumer electronic devices like digital cameras and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Flash Memory Cards come in many different formats and capacities, depending on the device for which they are used. Flash Memory Cards are device dependent, and can not be used for portable external storage.