Question SSDs replacing USB flash drives

[chickenballs]

I am actually considering to get a 1tb Crucial MX500 for around 140 USD (unfortunately thats the cheapest I could find in the country I am living in atm) to replace all my USB Flash drives.
Last year when I replaced my last 1tb HDD with a 1tb Samsung 860Evo ssd I discovered how much faster the transfer speeds of the ssds even connected to a usb/sata adapter when compared to USB flash drives.
Other than the faster read and write speeds the prices of the USB flash drives seem to HIGHER than a high quality ssd with almost the same capacity:

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-250GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0764WCXCV

https://www.amazon.com/Lexar-JumpDrive-256GB-Flash-Drive/dp/B00S5V5PTC

I heard for long term storage both the USB flash drives and SSDs need to be powered on like once (?) a year to retain all the data stored on them so I assume there doesn't seem to be any reason for anyone to get a slow USB flash drive in 2019,
or am I wrong??

 

[SkyNetRising]

USB flash drives are more compact. That's the only reason to choose them.
In everything else SSDs are far superior.

 

[DMAN999]

I tend to agree.
I bought a 500 GB Crucial MX500 that I put in a USB 3.0 enclosure and it performs extremely well IMO.
I get around 260 MB/s when transferring files to and from it.

 

[chickenballs]

USB flash drives are more compact. That's the only reason to choose them.
In everything else SSDs are far superior.

Well I want to replace about 4x 128gb and 2x 256 gb usb flash drives containing RAW files and a bunch of TV shows
not all of them are full so a 1TB ssd should be more than enough and probably weigh less and more compact than 6 x usb flash drives

 

[AllanGH]

USB flash drives are stable for long-term storage of data.

From my research, current technology SSDs are NOT appropriate for the storage of data for periods to exceed 18 months, when that SSD is not regularly powered-up by a host system. YMMV.

Be forewarned.

 

[SkyNetRising]

If you have bunch of them, then, of course, it's not compact.

This would still beat your SSD in compactness:
Patriot USB 1TB Supersonic Rage ELITE

https://www.info.patriotmemory.com/supersonic-rage-elite-usb

 

[DMAN999]

Allan and SNR are both correct but for me the SSD is a MUCH better solution.
I was copying files (videos and pictures) to my USB 2.0 sticks to view on my TV's but they were very slow (around 5 MBps transfer speeds) and were starting to frustrate me.
So I bought the SSD and 2 firesticks so now I just store the files on the External SSD (which stays plugged into my main PC) and stream them to my firesticks with PLEX.

 

[chickenballs]

https://www.newegg.com/patriot-model-pef1tbsre3usb/p/N82E16820221063
179.99 USD

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NAND-SATA-Internal/dp/B077SF8KMG
107.99 USD

I would like to see the patriot beat the MX500 in transfer speeds even when the ssd is connected to a pc through usb 3.0
Why are usb flash drives more stable? Are they both flash memory?
Well I do plug my USB flash drives to a computer at least once a year

 

[AllanGH]

Why are usb flash drives more stable? Are they both flash memory?

Supposedly, they are, but I've had USB flash drives that I've stored files on that are easily accessible without having powered them up 4 years, or so. So, my direct experience tells me that they are more stable than SSDs.

Of course, nothing beats a mechanical HDD for the long haul. At least, not at this point in time.

 

[popatim]

mechanical HDD's have their long term storage issues as well. I've had Heads seize to platters, Bearings seize, Spindle motors freeze... even though they were properly ejected/powered down.

I've learned to use the drives a few times per year as a best practice.

 

[USAFRet]

I heard for long term storage both the USB flash drives and SSDs need to be powered on like once (?) a year to retain all the data stored on them so I assume there doesn't seem to be any reason for anyone to get a slow USB flash drive in 2019,
or am I wrong??

For "long term storage", nothing counts.

All storage devices fail. Given 1,000 drives of whatever type/make/model/size, there are outliers on both ends.

Sucks if your specific drive is the one that dies early.

I would not trust any storage device to write once, put on the shelf, and take out 2 years later in hopes that it 'works'.
It probably would. But if it does not...what is your fallback position?

 

[AllanGH]

...what is your fallback position?

One of the other three drives that I have back-ups and vital data stored on.

No HDD is ever allowed to be lonely. Each OS installation clone, and vital data repository, has three identical siblings in different locations.

Needless to say, Seagate loves me.