Popular questions about USB flash drives

Even though USB flash drives have been a commonly used technology for a quite a long time already, there are many controversial believes about these devices. While many people are absolutely sure the claims discussed in this article are sheer truth, some people are not sure about whether the believes are really right. Check this article and you might find some things you have not known about USB flash drives as well.

Will formatting remove the information from your USB flash drive forever?

One of the popular questions regarding USB flash drives is whether formatting this device will delete all of the stored data without traces.

Even though it might seem like that, in the reality, there are ways which you can use for bringing the information back. This is possible since the removing process of files from your USB flash drive actually does not delete the files themselves. What is deleted is the reference and description to these files.

On the one hand, it means you have all the possibilities of getting your information back if you have formatted your drive unintentionally. On the other hand, this also means other people can reach this information as well. For this reason, you should be careful about handing over your flash drives to other people if at some point there had been some confidential information. Another option for protecting your information is a special recording process which will help you to get rid of the data you want to hide from others.

Can formatting of flash drives reduce the lifespan of these devices?

The majority of people are aware of the fact the lifespan of memory storing devices is not infinite. What is happening with time is the occurrence of blocks of memory which will not work properly. Some people want to protect their devices from such a possibility as much as possible and one of the things they are doing for this purpose is resigning from formatting of their USB flash drives. Some people even go to the extent of filling the entire memory and once there is nothing left, they reach out to the formatting procedure.

According to experts, there is absolutely no point in such a practice since, as it has already been mentioned, formatting can only remove the reference and description of the files rather than files themselves. This can happen only in the case of performing formatting of the low level every time you want to delete some information from your device.

The latter procedure can be chosen if you need to remove the information from the USB flash drive forever, however, if it is not the case, you can use normal formatting any time you need. Moreover, you certainly do not have to wait until there is absolutely no memory left on your device before deleting anything from it.

Do USB flash drives require defragmentation?

While some users are afraid to delete files from their USB drives believing this can shorten the lifespan of the devices and avoid formatting these gadgets, others go as far as performing defragmentation on a regular basis.

This practice will not bring any good to your flash drive as, unlike formatting, defragmentation is capable of removing the data stored on the device forever. The more sessions of defragmentation your devices goes through, the higher is the probability of getting damaged. This is actually what can cause some blocks of memory becoming useless with time.

Unless you really need to delete some sensitive information from your device permanently, it is highly recommended to avoid any defragmentation procedures on your gadget.