USB Flash Drive versus Card Reader

[shumaker]

I was about to buy a USB flash drive, when I saw some flash card
readers. If I understand correctly, the card readers are targeted
mainly for reading cards from devices such as cameras.

However, I was thinking it might be more economical in the long run to
buy the reader, and flash memory seperate.

Assuming that I will probably have need for more storage space and
larger capacities in the future:

1. The USB interface circuits and maybe some other stuff like ECC
would probably be built into the reader, thus I won't be paying for
this everytime I buy more flash memory, as opposed to buying a new
flash drive.

2. If USB interfaces get faster(I don't know the likelyhood of that)
and USB card readers are offered that support faster transfer rates,
then I can upgrade my USB card reader and then all of my flash cards
will be readable at the faster rate, maybe? Is the transfer rate
dictated by the card reader, or the flash card? I.E. If card readers
get faster, but I have an older flash card, would the transfer rate be
limited by the older flash card?

Any comments, side notes, and suggestions welcome and appreciated.

 

[shumaker]

Looking at prices without knowing much about flash cards, and the
cheapest 1gb flash card and 1gb usb drive are identically priced on
newegg. Guess my theory wasn't correct.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]>

I was about to buy a USB flash drive, when I saw some flash card
readers. If I understand correctly, the card readers are targeted
mainly for reading cards from devices such as cameras.

However, I was thinking it might be more economical in the long run to
buy the reader, and flash memory seperate.

Assuming that I will probably have need for more storage space and
larger capacities in the future:

1. The USB interface circuits and maybe some other stuff like ECC
would probably be built into the reader, thus I won't be paying for
this everytime I buy more flash memory, as opposed to buying a new
flash drive.

2. If USB interfaces get faster(I don't know the likelyhood of that)
and USB card readers are offered that support faster transfer rates,
then I can upgrade my USB card reader and then all of my flash cards
will be readable at the faster rate, maybe? Is the transfer rate
dictated by the card reader, or the flash card? I.E. If card readers
get faster, but I have an older flash card, would the transfer rate be
limited by the older flash card?

Any comments, side notes, and suggestions welcome and appreciated.

This isn't really related to XP so you may have better luck in a
hardware-specific forum.

That being said, I'm more then happy to share my views (this is usenet,
afterall)

The advantage that a USB drive has is that it doesn't require a reader.
It's one less thing to carry when you need to take data with you to
another PC which may or may not already have a card reader. Sure card
readers are small, but it's one more thing to carry in your pocket and
one more thing to go wrong.

Also, the components aren't substantially cheaper, single interface
USB/CF reader comes in under $10 wholesale, and once you subtract the
cost of making the interface plugable, the USB portion of a flash drive
isn't substantial when compared to the cost of a SD/CF/whatever
interface.

All that being said, you can't beat the size of an SD card. You're also
correct that as interfaces change, a card reader can be updated to
embrace the new interface whereas a standalone drive cannot.

However, you also have to consider how badly you'll need the new
interface. Can your flash card exceed the USB2 speed limit? If not, a
faster interface won't help and chances are that we'll have USB1/USB2
backward compatibility longer then you'll be using an average USB drive
(Most systems today still have serial, parallel, PS2 keyboard and mouse,
IDE and floppy ports -- USB isn't going anywhere even if something
"better" shows up tomorrow)

All that being said, I'm not really a big fan of USB drives, I actually
prefer standalone flash media myself, but it's more of a preference then
any logical reasoning. To be honest, I rarely use either except for
exchanging data with an external device (camera, Palm, PPC), otherwise I
virtually always just network if the machine is here, or burn a CDR if
I'm going out.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

A flash card reader "may" be larger to carry than a flash drive. However,
Lexar did make a flash drive unti that contained no memory. It was using 3
type of flash card for the memory.

Flash drives are more portable than flash card reader since the memory is
included in the unit.

 

[Ghostrider]

I was about to buy a USB flash drive, when I saw some flash card
readers. If I understand correctly, the card readers are targeted
mainly for reading cards from devices such as cameras.

However, I was thinking it might be more economical in the long run to
buy the reader, and flash memory seperate.

Assuming that I will probably have need for more storage space and
larger capacities in the future:

1. The USB interface circuits and maybe some other stuff like ECC
would probably be built into the reader, thus I won't be paying for
this everytime I buy more flash memory, as opposed to buying a new
flash drive.

2. If USB interfaces get faster(I don't know the likelyhood of that)
and USB card readers are offered that support faster transfer rates,
then I can upgrade my USB card reader and then all of my flash cards
will be readable at the faster rate, maybe? Is the transfer rate
dictated by the card reader, or the flash card? I.E. If card readers
get faster, but I have an older flash card, would the transfer rate be
limited by the older flash card?

Any comments, side notes, and suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Forget about the economics. If one thinks of convenience, then
there is a place for both. Flash drives are much less fragile
than a naked memory card and are more robust when used for data
transport when shuttled around. Flash cards are more convenient
to store and can be looked at as large-size, modern day floppies.
And from personal experience, today's flash card readers will read
[my digial camera] flash cards from 1999.