Do USB flash drives wear out..?

Dreamnine

I've had a 64Gb flash drive for a couple of years now which just has audio files on it, and I've started plugging it in to my Teac iPod dock - it plays all 8500 tracks fine using folder browsing.

I'd rather do this than risk wearing out the connectors of my iPod Touch 64Gb - previously I was just charging it every third day or so, but I'd rather not use the dock with the iPod.

But will the flash drive be safe if it is just in the dock, no writing going on, just playing music.

jamesperrett

Older flash drives had a limited number of writes (around 1000) before they started to give problems but newer ones allow many more writes (at least 100000). Reading shouldn't be a problem - although error rates are supposed to increase after 10 years or so.

James.

fwor

They do (as you can see from the wiki on the subject) wear out, but the weakest should be good for at least 10,000 write cycles.

In your application it should be fine. It may not be completely free of writes while used that way, because the controller may be doing things such as wear levelling in the background, but I doubt that's any big deal.

Dreamnine

Thanks, and I'm probably a bit ignorant on this subject - but I didn't like that the iPod was always charged, or charging, while it was in the dock..Not sure whether that was actually harmful to its battery or not, but using it just now and again with headphones it was lasting a few days before I had to charge it..

At least the flash drive doesn't have that problem.

jamesperrett

Lithium rechargeables (which is what your iPod probably uses) last longest if they are stored around 30% charged. Most rechargeables prefer to be run down almost completely before recharging.

James.

Notmyrealname

Dreamnine wrote: »

Thanks, and I'm probably a bit ignorant on this subject - but I didn't like that the iPod was always charged, or charging, while it was in the dock..Not sure whether that was actually harmful to its battery or not, but using it just now and again with headphones it was lasting a few days before I had to charge it..

At least the flash drive doesn't have that problem.

My iPod Classic spent most of its 5 years life permanently hooked up to the car stereo and therefore being powered all the time 24/7/365..

Battery life is about 2hrs now so its definitely not done it any good but as I said, that was constantly connected. It never once in that time got used on the battery alone.

John_Gray

If any of your data is important to you, always try to back it up to at least two different types of media: e.g. USB Flash Drive, DVD, external hard disk.

USB Flash Drives are more reliable that were diskettes, but both can have their file systems corrupted. Usually at the most unwanted time...

robmar0se

Just stating the obvious, but they do suffer from accidental damage, loss etc, so backup is essential. I use them daily, and have had a couple of accidents.

mttylad

Ditto the above, finding them in trouser pockets just before ironing them is something that happens too - and yet they survive going through the washing machine

Dreamnine

Yes, all my audio files are archived in FLAC on 3 different places.

poppellerant

Flash drives are usually damaged before wearing out. The most likely damage will be to the USB solder joints to the flash drive's circuit board, due to all the pulling and pushing.