A flash drive is a storage device that uses flash memory and not the traditional spinning platters for storing information. Its highlighting features are that it consumes less power and is extremely durable. It is a solid state storage device (SSD), meaning it has no moving parts. Everything is electronic and nothing is mechanical. Flash drives resemble the hard drives and might well replace them some day.
They have so many benefits that Samsung Electronics has already released the first flash memory based personal computer. Dell computers released the ‘Latitude D430’ with 32 GB flash memory storage in July 2007.
Benefits of Using Flash Drives in Laptops and Computers
Flash drives, when used in computers offer much more benefits than the traditional hard drives.
- The high speed spinning of the hard drive (7,200 to 15,000 rpm) generates much heat. Flash drives do not store data on spinning platters; consequently they do not generate any heat. As they do not get hot, they can be operated in any environment.
- Flash drives consume much less power than the hard drives. When the unit is idle, there is virtually no power consumption. It draws only 0.03 W and when it is in operation the power consumption is 0.09 W.
- Flash drives are noiseless in operation as they have no moving parts.
- Durability is a virtual necessity in laptops as they are extensively taken outdoors. Hard disks fail when they are taken to magnetic fields or to places where vibrations occur. Flash drives are immune to these disturbances. Though, they might fail at some point of time, they are much more durable than hard disks.
- Flash drive based laptops remains unaffected by shock. The lack of moving parts makes it immune to impact over 1000 gravity (G). Hard drives, being platter-based can only resist impact up to 500 G, that too in a non-operational state.
- As flash drive is a SSD, its read write speed is almost instantaneous.
- Data transfer rates in flash drive-based computers is quite high. Hard disk computers have low data transfer rate. Even though much technological development has taken place, the hard drives are the slowest component in the pc.
Using a flash drive in a laptop or desktop thus has many benefits. However it has a few disadvantages that is preventing its popular acceptance.
Drawbacks of Using Flash Drive in Laptops and Computers
The price factor of a flash drive based laptop poses a problem. These laptops are 10 to 30% costlier than hard drive based laptops. The price of a notebook is already high. This additional cost proves to be a dampener. However, with the increase in its adoption, prices may drop over a period of time.
The advantages are so numerous; one cannot resist feeling that flash drives may replace the hard drives from computers.
Are Flash Drives a Threat to Hard Drives? Would Hard Drives Turn Obsolete?
Flash drives have the capability of replacing the hard drive due to their inherent advantages. They are low on power consumption, reliable, make less noise and have speedy data transfer rates.
However, the cost per GB of information is higher in a flash drive compared to the hard disk. Yet, so much of research is taking place that soon flash drives will be on par with hard drives. Even the earlier concern of the flash drives not supporting enough read write cycles has been erased. Technological progress has brought the flash drive on a status at par with the hard disk drive.
Hard drives are also evolving at rates much faster than stated by ‘
Flash drives might work as an alternative to hard drives in certain sectors of the market, while in other areas it might complement the hard drive. Development lies in combining the advantages of both these devices. Adding flash memory to a hard drive would lead to the creation of a hybrid hard drive. This would have many advantages over the traditional hard disks.
Computer Forensics (or Digital Forensics) experts can examine flash drives for evidence of misuse or tampering.