Portable Memory Storage
Flash drives come in a range of forms. Different size memory storage cards are designed for all the different electronic devices available.
Millions of Flash Memory drives are sold throughout the world each year, and many are not ideal for their use.
Using a few moments to ascertain your storage needs before making the wrong purchase will allow you to make an informed decision and consequently you’ll end up with a better data storage device that meets your needs.
Card Types Card Varieties
There are several standard formats that are the most used by the bulk of large manufacturers. The most used are SD in standard, Micro and Mini, USB Flash memory sticks, and CompactFlash drives.
The two most important factors when buying portable data storage, are the capacity of the stick and the transfer speed. Memory storage technology is fast moving leading to an increase in capacity and an increase in data transfer speed.
The bigger and faster the memory, the more it usually costs. With the recent growth in the use of mobile devices for gaming and HD videos, portable secure storage of huge files has now become invaluable.
Memory Capacity
Currently, at the end of 2013, portable flash drives are manufactured up to 256GB and memory capacity is expected to reach 2TB by the end of 2020. Cards and sticks are more & more stable and reliable, giving the user much more confidence and security than was readily accepted up until a little while ago.
Micro SD Cards
The majority of sticks and SD cards are ‘hot swappable’ meaning that you can remove them from your devices and computers without having to first eject them. Flash storage drives are also compatible with both Microsoft and Apple, so copying data onto your Mac or PC is easy for using at a later date.
CompactFlash
Professional grade cameras usually allow for at least two different memory card options to be used and take CompactFlash memory (usually the first choice for professional photographers) & SDXC memory also.
For commercial photographers, often they only have a split second to preserve an event, so they need to know that the photographs they take are safely stored on a 100% reliable card.
Compact Flash data cards are one of the most consistently reliable data storage cards as well as the most trusted. The vast majority of wedding photography specialists tend to use several lesser size cards during a wedding shoot rather than storing all of their photographs one large capacity card.
Doing this ensures added security because if the worst were to happen, if a card corrupts and loses data, they’ll just lose a single section of their saved work, rather than losing it all.
In spite of the high level of reliability of data storage, it is a sensible precaution to preserve your data by saving it like this as it can save a lot of tears later.
Because of their tiny dimensions, memory sticks and cards are an incredibly convenient method of carrying huge amounts of information for either portability or security.
Data cards can be easily stored in a purse, wallet or pocket, or hidden away discreetly to secure your intellectual property. Portable memory has 2 types, USB driven and a variety of memory card drives which either require a compatible flash card slot or a multi-card reader which connects to a computer via the USB socket.
The electronic devices, cameras or gaming portals you own or intend to purchase will often dictate which types of memory storage you will require.
If you are only planning to store documents from your computer then a USB flash drive would be your ideal choice. With the cost of memory drives dropping, this is the perfect moment to upgrade with newer, faster and larger capacity cards and sticks to back up your valuable data.