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[Vieo]

They've been around for a while, but I've never really paid attention to them. I've been reading some stuff about them and I I'll pick one up soon. I just have a couple of questions...

1. I've read they're exactly like harddrives. Does this mean if you have a small enough program, you can install/run that program off of the flashdrive itself without it ever writing to your other harddrives? For example, let's say I wanted put something like DOOM or nethack on the drive. Would I be able to play them off of the drive?

2. Do they require batteries to hold on to the information stored on them?

3. Are they suseptible to data corruption from magnets like normal harddrives are?

4. How long do they last? (Like, how durable are they? Have you ever had one die on you?)

5. What company makes the best Flash Drives?

-Thanks

 

[tedtropy]

1. Yep.
2. Nope.
3. Nope.
4. They should last quite a few writes, likely several years. I've got older 32MB drives that are still kicking.
5. So long as you get a USB 2.0 interface one, they'll all be pretty close in speed and quality. Lexar makes good ones. I'm not sure if there's any decisive 'best' brand.

 

[Vieo]

1. Yep.
2. Nope.
3. Nope.
4. They should last quite a few writes, likely several years. I've got older 32MB drives that are still kicking.
5. So long as you get a USB 2.0 interface one, they'll all be pretty close in speed and quality. Lexar makes good ones. I'm not sure if there's any decisive 'best' brand.

Thanks for the info! I was really counting on number one being a yes. That sounds badass. =)

 

[tedtropy]

Thanks for the info! I was really counting on number one being a yes. That sounds badass. =)

Yep, the driver Windows uses basically allows the flash drive to emulate a hard disk. As far as programs know, it is. You can even defragment it. Probably my favorite function of flash drives is their ability to be bootable drives. There's nothing nicer than having something in your pocket that can allow a machine to boot to a network or restore an image. As opposed to the other thing near my pocket that boots the ladies up...if ya know what I'm saying, hur hur hur...