Flash Drive for Time Machine (Pros vs Cons)

[FSMBP]

I'm a little curious as what the Pros vs. Cons are for using a USB Flash Drive for my Time Machine.

My reason for this is I often unplug my current external HDD as it is loud & randomly awakes from sleep (it's a Western Digital). Therefore, I'm never backed up to date.

Anyways, whatmare the Pros and Cons?

Pros: No moving parts, silent, Small
Cons: Cost, read/write is slow(er)

Is a flash drive less reliable than an external HDD?

 

[DmbShn41]

Cost would be high, depending on what you're looking at. Have you ever thought of using your external HD on wireless? Have an Airport Extreme? I use a WD external hooked into my Airport Extreme and let my computers back up using wireless. Never had any issues, and anytime I needed to recover, retrieve anything, it's always been there.

 

[FSMBP]

A 64GB would set me back $120 and would be sufficient for my back ups (I don't back up system files, just my own personal files).

But I'll look into AirPort Extreme...The only drawback of that is if I use of on a notebook, I won't have backups when I'm not at home by my AirPort Extreme.

 

[waynep]

Why not use a regular USB drive? You an get a 500GB portable drive for way less than that thumb drive. Then you can run a full Timemachine backup to it.

Flash based storage, have limitations in the number of times they an be written to. It's a lot, but it's more limited than a normal disk drive.

 

[DmbShn41]

I understan your point OP. The post above this is another valid option, except whenever you want to back up, you have to plug in, and that isn't very mobile. Plus, I think thats how you were doing it before you suggested the flash drive... There is literally about 74 ways to do this backup thing, and 73 people claim their way is better than mine. Question is, what way fits your needs best? Good luck, and if you have any more questions, let us know.

 

[FSMBP]

Thanks for the feedback all. I might end doing a flash drive due to portability. But I'm going to explore the airport extreme option incase I get an iMac.