Flash drives come in many different shapes and memory sizes.
Flash drives and portable hard drives both provide excellent options for carrying data around. However, there are notable differences between the two storage options that are important to know before making a purchase.
Storage
Portable hard drives offer more storage space than flash drives, but are larger.
Portable hard drives can hold large amounts of data: as of 2010, the largest consumer portable hard drives hold 2 TB of data. Flash drives are usually much smaller: the largest consumer flash memory cards and drives hold around 256 GB.
Size
Small, light flash drives are easy to store on a keychain.
Portable hard drives can be as small as a few inches across to nearly a foot long. Flash drives are usually no longer than a few inches.
Power
Some portable hard drives need their own power source, which means the user must carry a power adapter when traveling. Flash drives are powered by their USB connections, so no additional power source is necessary.
Heat
Portable hard drives have moving parts that generate significant heat during use. Some models have very little insulation, which can make them to difficult to handle after use. Flash drives contain no moving parts and generate virtually no heat.
Price
Flash drives and portable hard drives both provide inexpensive options for portable data storage.
Portable hard drives have a lower cost per gigabyte than flash drives: this is ideal for consumers who wish to store large amounts of data. Flash drives are typically more expensive per gigabyte than portable hard drives. Flash drives provide extremely cheap storage for consumers who only need a few gigabytes of storage: many small flash drives cost under $10.
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