Questions on a 2 Giga Byte USB flash drive?

Question

1. What is are the common problems and causes a typical 2 Giga Byte USB flash drive to be formatted again?

2. How long (months or years) would a flash drive causes it to malfunction?

3. Im planning to buy a 2 Giga Byte USB flash drive, is the cheaper ones (CD-R King) any different from the branded ones (Imation) ?

4. Is it safe to remove a USB flash drive from my PC if my PC is in the shut down condition?

5. what are the disadvantages of using a typical 2 Giga Byte USB flash drive ?

thanks

Answer 1

1. Data loss due to removing it during a transfer, if the light on it is blinking, don't unplug it (I would think this is common sense).

2. Years, as of yet untested. Flash drives have been in existences for about... well, five years now give or take and I've not heard of many failure rates, doesn't mean they don't but they will outlive whatever you intend to use them for. Your storage requirements will probably grow faster than you will keep the same drive.

3. No, there are fewer providers of flash memory chips than there are manufacturers of USB flash drives, chances are the "no-name" brands are using the same memory chips as the brand names are.

4. Well... I have no idea why you would do such a thing... wait until the PC is off until you unplug... or unplug it before you shut down.

5. Ummmm... losing it... misplacing it... accidentally forgetting it is in your pocket and putting it through a wash/dry cycle. Sersiously... disadvantages of 2GB in your pocket... how could there possibly be a bad thing?

I'll do you one better... you can get 4GB for $40, http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Order=PRICE&Page=1&Category=324&N=2013240522+1309421175&Submit=ENE&Nty=1&SubCategory=522 or go with 2GB for $20, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820134043

Answer 2

Hi. I hope this will help.

1- There are no common problems of usb flahs drives being reformatted. Thats what its for, mass reusable storage. There are no problems at all with usb flash drives.

2- I reckon that a typical USB Flahs Drive should last over two years. I bought an 8gb one and its been with me for 3 and a half years.

3- Well, the cheaper ones may not offer the best quality, but they are good alternatives to the more expensive ones if you need a USB Flash Drive for just Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and other office stuff, and pictures. They work ok with Video Clips as well.
Bascially, they are the same. Yeah, go for the cheaper ones. Unless you like a particular brand.

3- Yes. It is safe to even remove it while some windows from the Flash Drive are still open.

5- There are no disadvantages of USB Flash Drives. 2 GigaBytes are a lot. In my 8 gig one, I barely ever use more then 2 gigs at a time (trust me, if it wasn't for my 'must-have-everything-with-me' thing, it would barely be 1 gig.
Even besides the amount of storage space, there are no problems with USB Drive.

I hope this helped.

Answer 3

Well I have a one Giga flash drive that works perfect....
1: It has been few months since I bought and I didnt format it....
It works fine....You dont have to format urs, unless you think some virus got into it or some files cant be deleted.
2: Well mine one still works and I dont know how long will it work.
3: The quality of branded ones are much better than the cheper ones. I would recommend that you buy the midium ones...not really cheap and not really expensive.
4: If you wanna remove your flash drive, I would recommend that you do it the safe way. A grean arrow button will appear next to the watch, double click on it and a new window will appear. Choose your device and then click Safely Remove Hardware. And then a prompt will show up that says It is safe to Remove.
5: I am not sure about the disadvanteges.

NEVER EVER TAKE IT OUT WHEN THE LIGHT IS BLINKING...WHEN IT IS IN USE!!!
thnx