[NTLUG:Discuss] USB Memory Sticks

[Ralph]

Howdy,
  I am a little behind in my email, but I wrote something about this
recently.  Emphatically, I can say do not use a 32 GB USB flash drive as
archival media.  32 GB flash drives are MLC flash memory and are
unsuited to archival storage, even with multiple copies.  If you don't
know what MLC memory is, google it or read a short article I wrote on
the local unix user group site recently.
  http://www.dfwuug.org/wiki/Main/FlashMemory

 SLC based flash drives are getting harder to find and 4 gigabytes seems
to be the maximum size available as of the end of 2008.  I just bought a
couple of drives that meet most of your specs, other than the size.
They were "MEMOREX 2GB M Flyer Travel Drive USB 2.0 FlashDrive".  I may
take one of them apart when they arrive to see if I can confirm that
they are really SLC based flash.  If you want to talk about it, look for
me on the #dfwuug channel on irc.freenode.net.  It is new for the Unix
group.  If it gets popular, then NTLUG ought to think about starting
one.
  I don't trust any one medium for long term storage.  No digital medium
is good enough, and MLC flash is not even in the running.  I'd trust MO
disk as much as anything, but renewal of your archives is an ongoing
process.  There is lots of information on this subject online, and I
think we have a couple of members locally who know a fair bit about the
subject(not me, I'm a beginner at long term archival).
Good luck,
Ralph


On Sat, 2008-10-04 at 09:58 -0500, Stan Gatchel wrote:
> I am looking for a good 32GB USB 2 Memory Stick that works well with Linux:
> 
> 1. Rugged
> 2 Fast (12MB+ write?)
> 3. Stable (stores data for a long time without loss)
> 4. Retractable connector (optional but preferred)
> 5. Reliable
> 
> Any suggestions as to brand, model, and where to buy?
> 
> Also, how do these stack up against DVD's for backup/archival purposes?