Do you still use flash drives, sd cards?

J

jaime_lion

New Member
So with online storage such as drop box and google drive etc. How many of you still use flash drives or SD cards and such to store files like word docs and pics and music?

I really only use a flash drive as a bootable device if i need to boot from one or the only other thing I use mine for is having anti-virus software and such on it. for storing pics and word docs and such I use online storage.

Around 2012 ish is when i first started using google drive. I had some files on a flash drive uploaded to the drive and like 2 weeks later I misplaced my flash drive. My first thought was "oh well its online its safe, this is awesome no more being OCD about my flash drives" I did find it a few hours later in a puddle in my front yard and it still worked.
 
I only use MicroSD cards in my phone to expand it's storage for things like custom ROM backups, etc. All my photos, videos, and apps are stored on the internal memory. The only other use I have for flash storage is for transferring photos from my DSLR to my camera.

I have a bunch of flash drives that I never use anymore. The last time I used one was a year or so ago to create a bootable Windows 8.1 installer.
 
Yup,

Same as Geoff,I use a USB 3.0 flash drive for installing windows and transferring files from one machine in the household to another.

MicroSD Cards,Not so much but use a couple today along with a portable USB card reader when setting up Kodi to run on a Rasberry PI (V1). :)

I don't like the idea of storing files on a Google drive...its okay for nothing important but,Nah.
 
For me it's about wanting to hold my own data. I use a bit of cloud (Dropbox) for some small files, but that's about it.
I have an external 2TB USB3 for big storage like ISO files, Acronis backups, GTA V files etc.
I have a 16GB USB3 (Corsair Survivor, it's waterproof!) installed with YUMI, incl. Linux Mint 17.2 x64, Ubuntu 15.04 x64, Lubuntu x32, GParted and Windows 7 Pro x64.
Have a 16GB USB2 that used to be same as 16GB USB3, but now random things.
Another 4GB USB2 with Windows 8.1 Pro x64 (you can't mix Windows 7/8 on YUMI :()
A 4GB Kingston Vault I don't really use, as well as a 64GB USB3 for random things.
 
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I use a 4GB SD card to boot ESXi in my server.
I use CF cards in my DSLR.
I still use flashdrives, but they're mostly used for installing software or taking client data backups.
 
jaime_lion said:
I will never understand this "fear" of useing th cloud and such that people have.
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It's hard to trust your data to a company that could either have a breach, or if a natural disaster happened and their cloud storage was offline for a significant amount of time. People like to have control over their own data.
 
Geoff said:
It's hard to trust your data to a company that could either have a breach, or if a natural disaster happened and their cloud storage was offline for a significant amount of time. People like to have control over their own data.
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Whats more likely to happen, Google has a breach and your info is stolen? Or your computer is breached and your info is stolen? Im not sure about you but google has way way better security than i could ever afford on my computers.

A natural disaster would have to occur on at least 2 continents.

What about your flash memory going corrupt? At least with google it is duplicated at least in 2 different data centers in different parts of the world.

Do I care if the "NSA" is looking at my stuff? nope cause I am pretty sure they already have finger prints and SSN's and every info on everyone already. Not sure about you but I was finger printed when I was 5 and was given a Social security number at birth. The government has records. I'm not sure about you but with some binoculars and patience I can get info on anyone. Facebook just makes it easier.

Do you trust banks with your money? Cause you know they could totally just take your money and run. And what if they go out of business your money is gone? I am pretty sure there are laws against this stuff, but with data centers I'm not sure but if your worried about that you could always petition governments to make laws.

So how fast is your internet? Sure you might have 1 Mbps down and up but faster internet is coming someday even fiber and how far away physically is a WiFi hot spot? I get free internet at my apartment building 5 down and 1 up now most days i can watch you tube comfortably but one day I had to fill out an application for a job. The internet was crap so I put my laptop in my bag and walked all of 2 blocks to a coffee shop and completed it there. The walk took 5 minutes. One time I was looking for a garage sale and had my laptop so I opened it and turned on the WiFi literally 10 free WiFi's showed up connected to one and got directions.
 
jaime_lion said:
Whats more likely to happen, Google has a breach and your info is stolen? Or your computer is breached and your info is stolen? Im not sure about you but google has way way better security than i could ever afford on my computers.

A natural disaster would have to occur on at least 2 continents.

What about your flash memory going corrupt? At least with google it is duplicated at least in 2 different data centers in different parts of the world.

Do I care if the "NSA" is looking at my stuff? nope cause I am pretty sure they already have finger prints and SSN's and every info on everyone already. Not sure about you but I was finger printed when I was 5 and was given a Social security number at birth. The government has records. I'm not sure about you but with some binoculars and patience I can get info on anyone. Facebook just makes it easier.

Do you trust banks with your money? Cause you know they could totally just take your money and run. And what if they go out of business your money is gone? I am pretty sure there are laws against this stuff, but with data centers I'm not sure but if your worried about that you could always petition governments to make laws.

So how fast is your internet? Sure you might have 1 Mbps down and up but faster internet is coming someday even fiber and how far away physically is a WiFi hot spot? I get free internet at my apartment building 5 down and 1 up now most days i can watch you tube comfortably but one day I had to fill out an application for a job. The internet was crap so I put my laptop in my bag and walked all of 2 blocks to a coffee shop and completed it there. The walk took 5 minutes. One time I was looking for a garage sale and had my laptop so I opened it and turned on the WiFi literally 10 free WiFi's showed up connected to one and got directions.
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You bring up good points, and you are correct, however the mindset is if you own it, it's under your control. If your power goes out most are willing to accept that they can't get to their data. However if you have power but Dropbox is down for a few minutes when you need it, you get extremely frustrated.

When you are under 100% control of your own data (or money in your example), it's all on you to keep it safe. If something happens and it gets stolen, you only have yourself to blame, but if it gets stolen by some other means such as a hack on your financial institution or cloud storage, you regret using that service.
 
Geoff said:
You bring up good points, and you are correct, however the mindset is if you own it, it's under your control. If your power goes out most are willing to accept that they can't get to their data. However if you have power but Dropbox is down for a few minutes when you need it, you get extremely frustrated.

When you are under 100% control of your own data (or money in your example), it's all on you to keep it safe. If something happens and it gets stolen, you only have yourself to blame, but if it gets stolen by some other means such as a hack on your financial institution or cloud storage, you regret using that service.
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Thanks for responding to my post in a courteous manner. I guess that's all i have to say. I was going to reply with more but cant think of anything more to say.
 
jaime_lion said:
Thanks for responding to my post in a courteous manner. I guess that's all i have to say. I was going to reply with more but cant think of anything more to say.
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I'm usually like you, I find that services such as Google and Dropbox are more reliable and secure than anything you can setup yourself within reason, but I was simply pointing out why some don't like cloud storage, not that I necessarily felt that way.

Another thing to keep in mind is that with Google, you have to read the EULA closely because they have wording which states that they can mine your data to serve you relevant ads, and some services say they own any data uploaded to the cloud. So for confidential information or projects, it's not ideal.
 
I don't use USB drives and SD cards for storage, they've always been a quick and dirty way for me to transfer data between 2 computers that aren't otherwise connected. I'll continue to use them that way in the foreseeable future.

I am a sucker for USB thumb drives. I worked in IBM's disk drive business for 20 years. The first product I worked on was the IBM 3350 Disk drive which was as large as your average washer/dryer combination and had dual HDAs (Head Disk Assembly) where each HDA held 300MB. It fascinates me when I come upon thumb drives or micro SD cards that can hold many times as much data as the 3350 in such a small package along with very low cost per MB (actually GB nowadays). When I come across a new thumb drive that's physically smaller or has more storage space, I am compelled to buy it.
 
SD for SBCs and flash drives mainly for OS reinstallations or giving to coworkers.

Cloud services are convenient and it's really dependent on use as to how they benefit you. For a backup bulk storage they're pretty convenient personally but you really have to set aside a LONG time to upload any significant amount of data.

jaime_lion said:
Im not sure about you but google has way way better security than i could ever afford on my computers.
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Cost!=strength

A natural disaster would have to occur on at least 2 continents.
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Unless you can personally verify that your data is replicated, I'd take any 'data management' claims with caution.

Do I care if the "NSA" is looking at my stuff? nope cause I am pretty sure they already have finger prints and SSN's and every info on everyone already.
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They're part of the gov't, which issues SSNs... It's not exactly private information to them.

Do you trust banks with your money? Cause you know they could totally just take your money and run. And what if they go out of business your money is gone? I am pretty sure there are laws against this stuff, but with data centers I'm not sure but if your worried about that you could always petition governments to make laws.
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That's why there is the FDIC. Whether it would actually hold up in a huge disaster is questionable, but it's a government mandated insurance policy on your funds.

Also, not sure how you make the argument about companies ignoring laws and then calling for more laws to be made :P

So how fast is your internet?
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Not nearly as fast as my LAN, most cloud storage can't even break ~80 mbit. I can even upload to a dedicated server across town a few multiples faster than Dropbox, gdrive, or similar.
 
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