Meli,
First, I don't advocate the use of USB flash pen-drives for archiving data
... they are quite handy for transferring data from one system/place to
another.
I used the word 'permanent' ill-advisedly, what I should have said is
'non-volatile.' Nevertheless, the anti-static technology of the latest
generation of USB pen-drives has been vastly improved. In fact, I bought a
new one a couple months ago that doubled the capacity of the one I had been
using (from 4gb to 8gb). Only a few days after acquiring it, I inadvertently
left it in my trousers pocket and it got run throught he laundry (both wash
& dryer cycles). Naturally, I was chagrined (not for the anticipated loss of
the data contained, but for the loss of the $50 value it represented),
thinking it desroyed. Imagine my surprise when I plugged it in a couple days
later and all was perfectly well! Eventhough the washing was vigorous enough
to remove the silk-screen printing on the plastic case, the data was still
totally intact ... and I'm still using the unit.
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Meli Diamanti" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 8:50 AM
Subject: Re: old notes
> If you are talking about USB flash drives, they are NOT permanent storage.
> Unlike CDs or DVDs, one good (bad) electric shock can wipe out all the
> data and ruin the drive. I speak from painful experience. So beware of
> the the way static builds up on your body in winter, such as sock feet on
> household carpet, and dispell the charge before you touch that flash drive
> to remove it from the computer.
> Meli Diamanti
>
> Bob Skiles wrote:
>> But, fortunately the alarmists scairt me enough a few years ago so that
>> I had all the data on them (worth keeping) transferred to new media
>> (currently I like the little USB pen-drives ... tiny ... permanent
>> ...huge capacities ... no separate power-source necessary for use ... and
>> now affordable ... plus, HP has a free utility that'll format these into
>> either an emulated bootable floppy or bootable hard-drive).
>>
>>
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