SSD or Flashdrive for fast backup

[rmlew]

I am looking for a removable backup device for about 55GB of data. I intend to use this device every weeknight.
I am considering a 64GB USB flash drive
The alternative is a 64gb SSD. I see that ADATA has one with a built-in USB 2 interface. As the server I am planning to backup only has USB2, this seems optimal. However, I am worried that the drive may break.

 

[Chainzsaw]

With USB2 you will be limited to about 30MB/sec transfer rates, which is not fast by any means at all.

IMO a flash drive and SSD drive would not be good for a back up every night. I find USB flash drives tend to fail quite a bit over time (faster than HDD based USB drives).

I think you would need a "beefier" solution than a USB based one depending on how critical you find your data.

 

[Traciatim]

Get 2 USB drives, do the backup on each, store one locally and one off site. The likelihood of both failing at the same time is very low, more copies of your data is always safer.

 

[geofelt]

USB2.0 will be very slow. Test with a small usb stick to see if that is OK.
If you need faster, use a usb3.0 port if you have one, or buy a usb3.0 add in expansion card.

A SSD is beneficial mostly for random access, not sequential like you will be doing in a backup.
The faster sequential speeds of a ssd come only when attached to a sata port.

I would use a hard drive based device. You can get a 320gb external hard drive for about the same price as a 64gb usb stick.
That would let you put 5 generations of your backup on the device.

 

[rmlew]

We have a hard drive, which we use for backup nightly. I am looking for an alternative to take home.
I should clarify that while the total data is ~50GB, the data that changes nightly is about 1GB.
I'd like to be able to back this up quickly every night and take it home. We had a flood and I don't trust cloud backups.

 

[Chainzsaw]

The other posters gave you excellent advise. You definitely want to have a backup of your back up in case of failure.

Something like this could add an extra layer of protection:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822161145

 

[geofelt]

We have a hard drive, which we use for backup nightly. I am looking for an alternative to take home.
I should clarify that while the total data is ~50GB, the data that changes nightly is about 1GB.
I'd like to be able to back this up quickly every night and take it home. We had a flood and I don't trust cloud backups.

Then speed should not be an issue if you do a basic baclup, followed by incremental backups.

I would think a cloud backup would be mor secure. A quality organization will have plenty of redundancy.

Perhaps both a belt and suspenders. Usb flash drive, cloud, and hard drive too.

 

[rmlew]

Best answer selected by rmlew.

 

[rmlew]

The other posters gave you excellent advise. You definitely want to have a backup of your back up in case of failure.

Something like this could add an extra layer of protection:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822161145

Thank you. I ordered this as I appreciate the built in security. I've lost USB sticks before. Who hasn't?