Memory installed in computers in general is a pretty common failure. Flash drives and all memory products are a good case of you get what you pay for. In the case of Flash/Thumb drives they should not be your only data back up. While there are no moving parts, the memory can be worn out over time. They do have a rating, and if you buy a cheap, no name device, chances are it’s going to have a lower rating than a brand name device. For folks that are always writing to and changing the files on a flash drive, that drive will wear out at some point. Flash drives do offer unlimited read access. There is also a chance of the device becoming damaged. Most commonly, the flash drive can get broken while in use (in the computer) by the device getting knocked into or out of the USB port. I see USB flash drive data loss fairly often, and if you do a search on Google for “Flash Drive data recovery” over 200,000 results come back, so somebody is losing data. With all storage devices, you should always have your data in two places. Flash drives are well suited for transporting data from home to work, but in my honest opinion they don’t make a good place to store your data, if it’s not already stored someplace else.
