Previously H.K. Kingston-Smith <HKK-S@yahoo.com> wrote: > I am using an 8 GB USB stick for my backups. The approach that I > follow consists of using rsync every other day in order to keep the > contents of the stuff in the backup in sync with the original stuff. My > question is, How long can I expect the USB stick to last? > I understand that a USB stick can be written to only so many > times, but I don't know how a write operation is to be accounted for in > this context. With my approach, the stick is written to intensively the > first time, when it is empty; however, every subsequent backup operation > will only copy the files/directories that have been changed in, or added > to, (and remove files/directories that have been removed from) the > original since the last backup operation. > Is this a sensible approach, or will it render my USB useless in > no time? Very long, if it is a quality stick. While individual cells only last 10.000-1.000.000 cycles (depending on technolology), wear-leveling makes modern flash sticks very hard to destroy. One thing you should do nonetheless is verify your backups. This will also provide early warning in case sectors do degrade. If rsync does read all data, then this is enough.l Othervise you may want to add an explicit verify pass. Another thing you should definitely do is get at least two more medua and do rotating backups. It is far to easy to destroy your backup and find out at the same time that the original data was corrupt. Arno