USB Flash Drives V/s DVDs

by: jameswalsh
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Among them, DVDs have been popular in the past decade amid the home users as devices best suited for storage and transportation of data. But, in the recent years, this trend has changed and many individuals prefer to use flash drives for the same purpose. Let us have a look at each of these data storage media.

DVDs

DVDs or Digital Versatile Discs are devices that store data in the optical form. They are primarily used to store movies or other video files or for archiving of data. They differ from the CDs in terms of their storage capacity which is about 6 times greater than that of CDs.

The DVDs may have a single layer of storage or they may be dual-layered. The single layered DVDs have storage capacity of 4.7 GB while a dual-layered one can store up to 8.5 GB of data. These are the capacities of 12 cm or standard sized DVDs that are available. Apart from them, smaller DVDs of size 8 cm are also available.

The data is burned onto the DVDs by means of a DVD writer. A laser is used to burn the data onto microscopic spots on the lower DVD surface. If you have a DVD writer installed on your computer, then the writing operation can be performed by software that is available for the purpose. Such software is quite user-friendly and some of them even support the drag and drop write option.

The data can be burned onto the DVDs at a maximum speed of about 40 MB per second. Rewritable CDs are also available wherein the data can be rewritten a number of times.

USB Flash Drives

These are NAND type data storage devices and connect to the computer via the USB interface. They are small in size and can be carried in your pockets.

The flash drives make use of a combination of earlier technologies of data storage. Of these, the prominent ones are the EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and the microprocessor technology.

Various types of flash drives are available in terms of their storage capacity ranging from 64 MB to 16 GB. The maximum data transfer speed that a flash drive can offer is about 30 MB per second. High speed variants of the flash drives are also available.

In flash drives a wide array of security features are available such as encryption of the stored data, password protection, finger printing etc. making them a good option if you intend to keep your data safe.

The flash drives can connect to the computer through USB ports that are present on the computer itself or through USB hubs. However, some of the high speed variants need to be connected to the computer directly as they consume more amount of power.

Comparison between DVDs and USB Flash Drives

Data can be written onto the flash drives directly once they are connected to the USB ports that are present on all such devices available today. On the other hand, writing data onto DVDs requires a DVD writer.

The number of rewrites that are offered by the flash drive is considerably greater than those offered by DVDs.

Also, flash drives prove to be more reliable for storage of data than the DVDs.

They also tend to be sturdier than the DVDs and are not easily damaged through mishandling. On the other hand, DVDs need to be protected carefully against scratches and also cannot be exposed to high temperatures.

Usually greater data transfer speeds can be obtained on the flash drives.

A standard file system is not present in the DVDs and hence the data present on it cannot be read universally whereas the flash drives are compatible with all the operating systems that are in use these days.

The only problem with flash drives is that they are expensive when compared to the DVDs.

The Final Word

It can be seen that the USB flash drives have many advantages as compared to the DVDs. Also, research is carried out with both these technologies that are yielding desirable results. As a result, flash cards that make use of the USB technology and Blu-ray disks which make use of the DVD technology have been developed. However, the future of the DVDs does not seem to be as bright as that of the flash drives and they may even become obsolete in the years to come.

About the Author

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. For more information on computer crime and Computer Forensics see http://www.fieldsassociates.co.uk

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