rochephoto

They are indeed the same thing. They are both have flash memory and they both are about the size of a thumb. There is no real compression in either case.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

You're correct...

Dik

GEngel-usmc Loc: Spencerport NY - I miss Lakeland, FL

SanDisk Go usb-c 512gb, runs at $79.99 at Western Digital site.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

The ASUS M.2 enclosure I mentioned is likely more reliable and also faster... but likely pricier. A 2TB M.2 drive is expensive.

Dik

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

A thumb drive is not for back-up, that's a bad idea!

Myne

Thanks for sharing..very interesting...Not sure I would have tried one...I just go to Best Buy & buy another external hard drive...I’ve found even the external ones..don’t do well if filled to full..not sure why since I’m not a tech person. But it seems they need space left unused.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Flash drive and thumb drive are two names for the same thing. There are others.....USB stick is one.

rck281 Loc: Overland Park, KS

Flash drives and thumb drives are the same thing and they don't yet come in 2 TB size. Solid State Drives can be purchased in that size and are becoming more affordable.
Also, drives are not "bootable" unless they contain an operating. Maybe you mean the aren't "recognized".

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

At the risk of opening a can of worms again on UHH.....

RAID is not backup. Mirror drives are not the same as making copies of a drive.

Reasons:
1. A RAID drive is most commonly NOT readable outside its RAID array. The RAID controller typically creates proprietary-format drives that are only readable in the RAID array they were
created by. There ARE exceptions to this, but you cannot know unless you take a drive from your RAID array and connect it via USB to a computer and (try to) read it. Please don't argue with ME. A little cursory research on the Web will find many discussions of this. I thought RAID mirroring was the way to go with my NAS, until I had to read one of the mirrors separately and could not, in Windows, Linux, Mac operating systems. The drive was NOT a recognizable format.

2. If there is a drive error (it's starting to fail for example), accidental/mistaken deletion, a virus or other data-related issue, the effects/problems are instantly replicated to the second (third, fourth...) drive instantly. So you have defective mirrors. Not exactly what you want, is it?

BACKING UP means making a copy of a drive's contents onto another drive with a sync program, or manually. This way, you decide when to do the backing-up, knowing FIRST that the data drive is good.

What you are doing is NOT protecting your critical data.

FRENCHY Loc: Stone Mountain , Ga

I had a gift for my nephew coming from China cost me 54$ it was a POS , trying to get a refund true PayPal, the seller told me they give me 20$ or to send it back to China, well UPS ask me 275$ to do it. guess what? when I get a new BB gun for the kid we will have fun destroying that POS from China. I guess Corona Virus is the only thing that last more then the other crap made in China

rck281 Loc: Overland Park, KS

BACKING UP means making a copy of a drive's contents onto another drive with a sync program, ....[/quote]
I agreed with everything you said until recommending a sync program for backup. A sync program will replicate a virus, accidental erasure, etc to the targeted drive. A proper backup is done with a backup program such as the Windows 7 built into Windows 10, Acronis, EaseUS To Do Backup, etc. These allow you to keep multiple backups and an image of a drive.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

I agreed with everything you said until recommending a sync program for backup. A sync program will replicate a virus, accidental erasure, etc to the targeted drive. A proper backup is done with a backup program such as the Windows 7 built into Windows 10, Acronis, EaseUS To Do Backup, etc. These allow you to keep multiple backups and an image of a drive.[/quote]

A sync program is just a way of automating doing a backup. Any of those backup programs will backup a defective drive as nicely as a good drive.

Making an image of a drive that is defective will produce a defective new drive.

By "the Windows 7 built into Windows 10", I presume you mean using "Backup & Restore (Windows 7)" utility to create a system image. Same idea as using EaseUS, Acronis, Ghost, AOMEI Backup or others to create a restorable image.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

IMHO there's a difference between backing up and archiving.

Backing up is making copies of files that you will be using again sometime soon.

Archiving is making copies of files that you don't think you will be using in the immediate future, but may well want to reuse them a little later than soon.

Backing up is for the short term. Archiving is for the long term.

It's probably OK to back things up on media that may not be safe for long term storage. However, safety requires multiple copies in either case.

rck281 Loc: Overland Park, KS

I agree with you. The only difference is that a backup program can create backups on what ever schedule you set and they are retained at what ever interval you choose. But yes, every backup of a defective drive or virus infected drive will duplicate that condition.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

So what's the difference? Short-time backup, long-term backup (archiving), it's still a backup.