Usb stick or External hdd drive for long term storage?

[rickzor]

I was wondering what is your opinion about which is better for long term storage, usb stick or external hdd for only a few gigabytes?

I'm not sure about this, but sounds like a good usb stick if unused would last much longer than a mechanical external harddrive!

Give me a clue please!

Thank you in advance.

 

[Wired220]

right now i myself would go with a flash drive if only a few gigabytes. stored in maybe a lock box if say its pictures or important info. My big thing is multiply places online, offline. but alway keep changing with the times here these people storing data on zip drive ten years ago u don't see to many zip drives anymore or floppy's its doable u can still get them but not quick to get data moved to another media.

 

[misry]

Agreed. If all you need to backup is a few G then put it on a memory dongle, buried deep on a server drive, on a g-mail drive and anyplace else you think no-one will bother it. Redundant backups are better than not.

 

[rickzor]

So you think that it's more important to store and spread the data among various storage devices and machines for more chance of future re-backup.

It's hard to imagine that usb will be discontinued any time soon though...

 

[treefrog07]

I regularly use CD-RWs and DVD-RWs for backing up smaller folders. I store them in a different location than my machines. I use external HDDs for backing entire HDDs and large folders of data. I use USB sticks to sneaker-net files that I routinely modify or update to get them from my desktop systems to my laptop. Static, or even improperly disconnecting USB sticks from my windows systems can corrupt/lose the data they hold. Just my thoughts.

 

[Ubrales]

I store data on my computer in RAID1. This data is backed up on a regular basis on two separate external HDDs stored in 2 separate locations.

When selecting an external enclosure, choose one that has a fan built-in. Like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173042

It is rugged, well built and has an eSATA connector as well as USB 2.0 - they also have a similar model with USB 3.0