TechNudge Live - Opinions and Reviews for the Informed

What's attached to your USB port?

In the consumer arena of computers and electronics, there are some "epic" battles that rage on. Let me name a few: Apple vs. Microsoft, Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD, Intel vs. AMD, and lithium vs. NiMH vs. alkaline batteries. One more than friendly competition is flash vs. a tiny hard drive for small, portable storage needs.

More than a couple of years ago, the idea of USB mass storage was developed. Slowly and steadily, those USB flash drives in their flashy cases nailed the coffin of floppy drives shut (Bill can chime in here with his comment that he still needs his floppy drive to flash his motherboard BIOS). Many a self respecting geek keeps these drives on their key ring, in their notebook case, and in their shirt pocket. Most of us have several of them, and they're ideal for shuffling files around between computers. These drives are flash memory based, with no moving parts, which make them quite stable, and not affected by temperature, vibration, or drops- at least on paper. I will tell you that I have had drives go bad for no apparent reason, which is disconcerting and not the advertised 10 year shelf life.

Not to be outdone, hard drives are miniaturizing. In a small, compact package, USB powered mini hard drives are available. At the CES this year, 12 gigabytes is the new capacity that's being talked about. They previously were 5 to 8 gigs.

While my friend Jeremy is all excited about these, I'm not sharing his vision of a tiny hard drive future. Here's why...

1- Flash memory prices are continuing to drop. When I see a 1 GB flash card for $10 (and 2 GB for $16!), then an 8 gig flash drive could be made for under a C-note, even allowing for a case. I doubt most users could fill that up, and the few that do would just purchase additional drives as needed to hold their data.

2- Ok, you're probably thinking "What about 'digital packrats' that need to bring their entire image, MP3, and video collection with them?" For these users, the hard drive companies are competing with themselves. These micro hard drives don't have enough capacity. Rather than a pocket 12 GB drive, they'll opt for the next step up- a portable hard drive. These USB powered boxes, based around 2.5" notebook hard drives can hold 40 to 120 gigs. Now that's more serious storage, in a size that still fits in some larger pockets.

3- My experience aside, there is at least a perception that flash memory is more secure. Whether we talk about falls, temperature extremes, magnetism, or vibration, flash should be more stable than a hard drive.

Given the current capacities and price points, while these pocket hard drives are very chic, I don't see them pushing flash drives into the bargain bin.

--Jonas