High capacity USB flash drive vs USB HDD - NAS backup.

OverDrive · 3 Feb 2020 at 10:13

What are the advantages/disadvantages of using one of these high capacity USB flash drives over a USB HDD?

I'm thinking I could keep one permanently plugged into the back of my NAS for backup. I would ensure that my USB HDD still continues to form part of my backup strategy.

I've seen some very cheap non-branded high capacity drives - what's the catch? Bad NAND?

Thanks.

bremen1874 · 3 Feb 2020 at 11:04

Even the best flash drives have relatively low write speeds.

I'd be very suspect of any backup strategy that leaves the backup target permanently attached.

If the amount of data is small enough to fit on even a very large flash drive it should be possible to back it up to the cloud instead.

OverDrive · 3 Feb 2020 at 11:30

Thanks for the reply. Agreed, I always disconnect my USB HDD after a backup operation and store it away safely. I was just thinking of a flash drive as a secondary backup medium.

At the moment, my documents are stored on OneDrive and I have bi-directional sync setup on my Synology NAS. However, my photo/video/audio files are not syncing with any cloud service. Any suggestions?

Cyber-Mav · 5 Feb 2020 at 18:55

Usb ssd or for more speed usb nvme if you got usb3.1 or higher

EsaT · 6 Feb 2020 at 20:43

bremen1874 said:
Even the best flash drives have relatively low write speeds.

Indeed it's hard to find decent write speed USB memory sticks.
Or you have to pay literal arm and leg compared to SATA SSDs.