Flash drives have become extremely popular over the past year. And why not…they are spacious, getting cheaper all the time and dare I say sexy? However, they still cost more per megabyte than any other backup medium. I did a little research tonight to illustrate why you should still use CD's or DVD's for photo and music backup rather than flash drives.
Consider this:
| Type of Memory | Capacity | Cost | Cost per megabyte |
| USB Flash Drive | 512 mb | $15.00 | $.03 |
| CDR | 700 mb | $15 for 50 disks | $.00000000000004 |
| DVD+R | 4700 mb | $30 for 50 disks | $.0000000000000003 |
I will admit that flash drives are extremely easy to use and work well, but the economics just aren't there for long term storage…yet.
