Everything You Need to Know About USB Flash Drives and External Hard Drives

When it comes to buying a portable storage device, there are two popular options: USB flash drive and external hard drive. Users may get confused: are USB flash drives and external hard drives the same? What's the difference between them? Which one should I buy? In this article, we will tell you the answers one by one. Please keep reading.

This chart will help you quickly understand more about USB flash drives and external hard drives:

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What is a USB flash drive, and what is an external hard disk drive?

A USB flash drive is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. It is also known as a pen drive or thumb drive.

A portable hard drive is a type of disk storage device that emphasizes portability, enabling the exchange of large amounts of data between different computers.

Both devices can be connected to any desktop or laptop via USB. Most operating systems are compatible with external hard drives, so you should be able to use yours simply by plugging it in. Once connected, the external hard drive will appear in your system as another drive.

What is the difference between a USB flash drive and an external hard drive?

While both devices are used for data storage, they differ in several aspects. Here, we've listed six key areas of distinction for you to examine their differences.

Capacity

External hard drives tend to have more storage than USB flash drives, with capacities ranging from 150 GB to 2 TB and beyond. Notably, external hard drive capacities continue to increase. When choosing an external hard drive, you can opt for a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD).

In contrast, USB flash drives have no moving parts. Information is stored in semiconducting material on chips. Capacities range from 500 MB to 32 GB, though USB capacities are increasing, and 128 GB and 256 GB drives are now available on the market.

Flash drives are smaller because they use TLC flash memory cells. There are three main types of flash memory cells: SLC, MLC, and TLC. USB drives tend to use TLC, while external hard drives usually use MLC, or even SLC. SLC stores 1 bit per cell; MLC stores 2; and TLC stores 3. Storing more data per cell allows manufacturers to produce high-capacity devices with fewer chips, but it also slows them down.

lifetime; lifespan; life cycle

When compared to USB flash drives, external hard drives tend to have a longer lifespan. This is because USB drives often lack wear leveling technology and do not typically support trim, making them more suitable for intermittent, short-term data writes. Wear leveling is an algorithm embedded in the controller firmware that ensures even usage of all memory blocks, preventing certain specific blocks from wearing out prematurely due to overuse, which can lead to bad blocks. The absence of this technology causes frequently updated blocks to wear out faster, thus affecting the overall lifespan of a USB drive.

How to Fix and Solve USB Flash Drive Not Recognized Issue?

Users often encounter the issue of USB flash drive not being recognized or detected. Here are some effective methods to fix the unrecognized USB flash drive error.

Speed

Another thing users might be concerned about is the transfer speed of these two devices. External hard drives tend to be faster when transferring large amounts of data, while USB flash drives may be quicker for smaller files. The reason external hard drives perform better is that they're more likely to come with a USB 3.0 interface, which optimizes performance. Some USB flash drives also have USB 3.0 now. However, remember that the speed won't be affected unless your computer has a USB 3.0 port. Here, we've also listed the maximum bandwidths for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 to give you a clearer idea of the speed difference.

- Maximum bandwidth for USB 2.0: 480 Mbps, or 60 MB/s - Maximum bandwidth for USB 3.0: 5.0 Gbps, or 500 MB/s

Portability

When it comes to portability, the USB drive wins hands down, for two reasons: size and weight. A USB drive can take many forms, but at its core it's just a small memory stick. Typically, it weighs only 20 to 50 grams.

External hard drives look like internal hard drives because that's exactly what they are: replacements for the hard drive inside your desktop computer. There are three standard sizes: 3.5-inch drives for desktop computers, 2.5-inch drives for laptops, and tiny 1.8-inch drives. Bigger drives weigh more.

RAW Drive Repair: How to Fix RAW External Hard Drive?

If your computer or external hard drive has suddenly turned into RAW format, don't worry. Both the built-in CMD and Data Recovery Wizard tool in Windows can help.

Management

Another difference between USB flash drives and external hard drives has to do with how they're managed by the user. On a computer, only an external hard drive can be partitioned. If you try to partition a USB flash drive, you'll see that it only contains one partition in Disk Management.

Price

External hard drives are usually more expensive, but for large-capacity USBs (say, 256 GB), the price can be even higher than for a 1-terabyte external hard drive.

Should I get a USB flash drive or an external hard drive?

Both USB flash drives and external hard drives perform great when it comes to data storage. To decide which one is best for you, start by considering your needs. Your choice will depend on how much storage space you require, the purpose of the purchase, and how much you're willing to spend. If you're looking for high-quality USB drives, you can refer to this source for reliable flash drives.

Additional Tip: Recover Lost Data from USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive

Regardless of whether you are using a USB flash drive or an external hard drive, you may lose data from the device. Several scenarios can lead to data loss, such as accidental deletion, formatting, partition loss, operating system crash, virus attack, and more.

When faced with the challenge of recovering lost data, it's advisable to turn to professional data recovery software. In this case, the Data Recovery Wizard is an excellent option. It scans all your lost data and safely retrieves it back to your computer with just a few simple steps. If you're interested in this tool, a detailed user guide is provided below.

Step 1: Choose and scan the external hard drive

1. Download and install the Data Recovery tool on your computer or laptop. 2. Connect the external hard drive to your computer. 3. Launch the Data Recovery wizard, select the external hard drive from the list of external drives, and then click on Scan to look for lost data.

Step 2: Review the scan results

• Data recovery software will immediately scan all data in the selected drive, including deleted, corrupted, and existing data.
• You can use the filter feature to quickly locate a specific file type, such as images, Word, Excel, PDF, videos, emails, and more.

Step 3: Preview and recover your data

1. Preview the files from the scanning results by double-clicking on them. 2. Select the files you need and click on "Recover". 3. Choose another disk (different from the original location) to save the recovered files.

Conclusions

In this article, we introduced you to the main differences between a USB flash drive and an external hard drive. We can boldly say that there is no better choice between the two since they both perform well in data storage. If you need a high-capacity drive with partitioning features, go for an external hard drive. If you want a portable storage device, then a USB flash drive suits you better.

Frequently Asked Questions about USB Flash Drives and External Hard Drives

1. Should I get a flash drive or an external hard drive?

Both USB flash drives and external hard disks perform well in terms of data storage. External hard disks have greater capacity, faster transfer speeds, and a longer lifespan, but they also come at a higher price. Nowadays, it is possible to find USB flash drives with larger capacities. They are lighter and more portable than external hard disks.

2. Are USB flash drives good for backups?

Yes, you can back up files, images, and operating systems to a USB flash drive. You can even use a USB to create bootable media.

Differences between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

The main difference between USB 2.0 and 3.0 is the maximum transfer bandwidth, or speed.

• Maximum USB 2.0 transfer bandwidth: 480 Mbps, or 60 MB/s
• Maximum USB 3.0 transfer bandwidth: 5.0 Gbps, or 500 MB/s