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Posts Tagged ‘USB Memory Sticks’

USB Flash Memory storage devices are a practical and highly portable method of storing and moving data between places. Flash Memory is highly practical for this task as it has no moving parts, supports fairly large storage and if used properly has very little chance of failing in any serious manner.

Unfortunately recently there has been a massive increase in the failure rate of these previously ultra reliable USB devices, so much so that the data recovery sector is now placing a lot of emphasis and time on USB memory stick recovery. The question has to be asked however what is the problem all of a sudden?

USB storage devices are also dropping in cost all of the time. They are growing in popularity at such a rate that the number of devices shipped in 2007 was double that shipped in 2006. By the end of 2008, annual sales are estimated to be in the region of 300 million shipped units.

With the higher number of units in the market place it goes without saying that that the actual physical numbers of failures of portable storage devices will increase, double the units = double the failures. However along side the number of failing units of more concern is the increase in the ratio of failed units that is being seen.

When a previously very reliable product starts to have increased failure rate, just as in any industry the repairers (in this case the data recovery companies) start to ask why and often collaborate on their findings. Investigations have started to reveal that the actual memory chips in the drives have not failed at all and are working just as expected.

Part of the problem lies with the consumer to some extent as the demand for ever cheaper products leads to the need for lean and more efficient or cheaper manufacturing requirements. A lot of failed devices are said to originate in the far east as are marketed as generic memory devices. In addition there is also a large increase in the number of fake devices in the market place as noted by one of if not the leading UK data recovery company in this article:

Nand Flash Identity Fraud

These fake devices are intended to appeal to the greed emotion that is prevalent in all but a few consumers, but just because it is cheaper does not mean it is better. The manufacturing process may be cheaper in different world economies but the other factor that is immeasurable by the consumer is the quality of the components. Lower standard components are cheaper but just don’t last the distance in a lot of cases.

Often These portable devices will hold a lot of your valuable data that if lost and not backed up could be lost forever. You get what you pay for as the saying goes so is it really worth the increased risk of data loss to save what is in reality a tiny sum compared to the cost of a branded device?

You can find more great advice on data recovery here or for general computing advice visit the computer data recovery and repair website.