Risky Flash Drives Could Mean Your Lost Data

Risky Flash Drives Could Mean Your Lost Data

Flash Drives, Memory Sticks, Jump Drives…etc, are not all made equally. I myself have had quite a few flash drives go bad on me; especially those given out for free at IT conferences.

Julius will tell you the real deal around flash drives!

Not all flash drives have the same quality and reliability. Some are made cheaply for mass distribution and given out as freebies, while some are made with top of the line manufacturing processes to insure that the data you save or backup to the flash device is ready for use when you need it.

Generally, Flash drives are divided up along four quality grades:

Grade A: Tier 1, a manufactures own brand made with their brand of premium chips with a lifetime warranty. Ex. Samsung & Hynix.

Grade B: Tier 1, OEM type chips sold to other companies to place their name on, these are made by legitimate chip manufacturers but are without the manufacturer's name imprinted on them. These chips are reliable but are not of the same standards that the manufacturer would consider putting their name on it.

Grade C: Now you are putting your information at great risk! These flash drives are the least expensive and have failure rates around 30% - 40%. The chips used to manufacture these are made from RECYCLED or RECLAIMED chips. The original manufacture did not use them in their flash devices, because they are viewed as GARBAGE chips! Manufactures make money on this waste by selling off their junk by the truck load to other companies.

Grade D: Bootleg chips with other manufactures names on them, but they are still of the GARBAGE breed. Just like bootleg hand bags and watches; they come from the same notorious country infamous for this.

Note that all electronic devices will eventually fail, but if you pay a little more for quality you should be able to get many uses from a flash drive when you need it. Hope this helped you understand the differences between flash drives. Pay more attention to who made the flash drive than to the low price and nice plastic cover.

Julius Clark, CISSP, CISA

Reference:

Flash Drive Direct: http://www.flashdrivedirect.com/FlasDriveRipOffs.htm