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MikeD · May 2, 2005, 09:46 AM

I use one but I was wondering how safe it is to carry these things around. Has anyone lost data? Or are these things pretty safe regarding our data and the main concern is actually losing the drive itself? I have the iomega micro flash drive and it's TINY! I have forgotten it in my pants pockets numerous times but have saved it every time before washing!

What do you guys think. It certainly is an alternative to lugging around a laptop back and forth. Is okay to open, edit, and save files straight off of the drive? I remember back in the day with floppies that was a no-no which led to many currupt files/disks.

Ambassadeur · May 2, 2005, 02:32 PM

Well, no hard-core flash drive user here, but mine is always flying around in my bag under tons of books and stuff, on my desk or somewhere else and I have yet to suffer any data corruption. I trust it with my thesis backup and just keep my fingers crossed. A friend of mine got his washed a couple of times, so obviously they even take that without giving up your data...
So better forget the ideas about floppy disk's properties

And no need to heave the same data on two or three flash drives as in times of floppy disks - where you could be sure that at least one of them would give up on you exactly when you needed it.

ghporter · May 2, 2005, 05:28 PM

I've had mine for a couple of years-long enough that I can't remember when I got it. It's fine.

Mine is a PNY "Attach�" 128MB unit. I love it.

macintologist · May 2, 2005, 05:38 PM

When mine was formatted as a DOS/Windows drive (so I could use it with PCs and Macs) it got messed up after several months and I had to reformat it.

As long as it's formatted as HFS+ then it's 100% reliable.

fulmer · May 2, 2005, 07:01 PM

I have used my 2 drives--sandisk 1GB and sandisk 512MB--constantly for many, many months. Endless copying of large and small files. Multiple erasures.
They have been extremely reliable. No problems with either.

MikeD · May 2, 2005, 09:48 PM

Great, I was just wondering if I could truly trust it! Thanks!

ghporter · May 3, 2005, 08:13 AM

The way mine came out of the box, it's been readable by both Macs and PCs. A quick check shows that it is formatted with FAT. Interesting... Anyway, I haven't had to do ANYTHING to it to keep it in shape. I wish I could say the same for me!

[APi]TheMan · May 3, 2005, 10:06 AM

In the year or so that I've had my 256 MB no-name brand flash drive, it's gone through the washer AND the drier twice, been dropped five or ten times, and lived under my couch for a month (and I thought I had lost it). It's a FAT drive so I can use it on the Windows machines at school just in case, and that never bothered me.

Flash drives just work.

itguy05 · May 4, 2005, 07:07 PM

Very reliable. Had an old Trek 32MB that spent 6 months last year buried in the snow. Worked fine when we found it in the spring!

And it was always on my keys which I have a habit of throwing and dropping, etc.

Worked fine for a couple more months until a trip through the washer and dryer killed it.

That being said, my replacement PNY 256MB has been treated quite rough and it works perfectly.

I'm always saving files to/from them (I work in IT) so reliability is not an issue. They work on the same basic principles as CF/SD/Memory Stick, and are quite robust. Some even survived 9/11 and were able to be recovered from.