Kaustubh
Member • Sep 9, 2013
How long do USB Pen Drives Retain Data?
Just read up an article on Wikipedia about the largest capacity USB drive in existence. Was expecting about 512 GB, but found out that flash drives offering 1TB (1000 GB) have already been demonstrated at the consumer electronics show 2013. The 2TB drives are in planning and may offer about 100,000 r/w cycles.
While most of the previous pen drives I've owned went out of business in about 3 years, I read that the shelf life these drives can offer may go up to 10 years, depending on the type of memory chip.
So the question is - how long do USB Pen drives last? What are the ways to extend their lives and what type of 'chip' should we prefer while buying a new drive? Do pen drive manufacturers mention the kind of chip they're using in the drive?
Would welcome suggestions, opinions.
While most of the previous pen drives I've owned went out of business in about 3 years, I read that the shelf life these drives can offer may go up to 10 years, depending on the type of memory chip.
So the question is - how long do USB Pen drives last? What are the ways to extend their lives and what type of 'chip' should we prefer while buying a new drive? Do pen drive manufacturers mention the kind of chip they're using in the drive?
Would welcome suggestions, opinions.
