USB flash key failures increase 300%

Update (2025):

When this article was first published, USB flash drives were just entering the mainstream. Today, they are everywhere — handed out at conferences, bundled with products, and used casually for short-term storage. But the core warning still holds.

Industry analysts estimate that several hundred million USB flash drives are produced each year worldwide. Even conservative failure-rate assumptions of 5–10% translate into tens of millions of failed or discarded flash drives annually. Many are thrown away not because they are physically broken, but because data corruption, controller failure, or unreliable behavior makes them untrustworthy.

Environmental reports on e-waste suggest that small electronics — including USB flash drives — are among the least recycled categories, meaning the vast majority end up in landfills. At the same time, users continue to rely on them for critical files, backups, and even sole copies of important data.

Nearly two decades later, the takeaway remains the same: USB flash drives are convenient, but they are not a safe long-term backup strategy.

The increasingly popular flash drive or key memory stick may be a good way to transfer data, but as a permanent backup device it doesn’t cut the mustard, as an increasing number of people are painfully finding out, according to a data recovery specialist.

Source: iTWire

USB flash drives are increasingly the storage or backup device of choice for individuals and small businesses, and with this growth there is an alarming increase in problems and disaster stories, says the boss of Australian data recovery specialist Payam Data Recovery (PDR).

With approximately 54 million units sold worldwide last year and sales expected to top 100 million this year (according to Gartner Dataquest), PDR has reported a 300% increase in problem USB flash drives since this time last year, due to faults, misuse, and an increasing number of poorly manufactured devices on the market.

In May alone, PDR claims to have examined more than 50 USB flash drives (also known as “pen drives”, “thumb drives”, “memory sticks”, and “USB keys”) from university students, photographers, small business owners, and CEOs that suddenly stopped working.

PDR Managing Director Payam Toloo said faults are most commonly caused by not properly ejecting the device, bending it while it’s still plugged into the port, power surges (especially from laptops), and mishandling.

“Many people are relying heavily on USB flash drives to protect important data — some small businesses back up their entire file system to a USB key.

“But the nature of their design and the way people handle them puts this valuable data at risk,” he said.

For example, leaving the device continually plugged into a PC port puts it at risk of being kicked or knocked and consequently bent. It also exposes the device to a higher risk of power faults or disconnection issues.

Meanwhile, although they are designed to be fairly durable, attaching USB flash drives to keychains and briefcases or carelessly throwing them onto desks and into drawers exposes them to constant knocks, high temperatures, and other day-to-day dangers the devices aren’t designed to continually handle.

“The physical appearance of a USB key makes people think they are simple and hardy devices, but they contain delicate parts and use complex algorithms to store data on the internal memory chip.

“If you are going to rely on one of these devices to store priceless data, then it should be treated accordingly,” said Mr Toloo.

With the increasing number of USB brands now available, manufacturing quality can also be an issue, and physical defects and faults can cause sudden failure.

“A limited number of write/erase cycles are possible before failure occurs, and while high-end flash drives will support several million cycles, cheaper devices are more unpredictable.”

To prevent problems, the device should be treated with care and ideally not relied upon as the only mechanism for backup, said Mr Toloo.

“USB keys are great for transferring data from one computer to another, or for short-term backups, but when precious data is involved I recommend also backing up to a second medium.”