The genuine maximum sizes of USB 3 pen drives / flash drives currently available and compatible with Linux?
by grumpyskeptic from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5GQ33)
I am considering buying a large capacity pen dive to use for long-term back-up storage, with my Linux Mint desktop computers.
I have been browsing pen drives on a well-known international online retailer of books and other products. The price of the biggest capacity drives is only slightly more than the price of smaller drives.
One or two products appear to offer 1TB or 2TB, but when looking at the reviews they often say the product is defective in use or has a true capacity that is much less. The high-star reviews are by people who have not yet used or fully loaded the pendrive yet, or are for a completely different product.
1) In the actual experience of people who have actually tested or fully loaded their pendrive, what is the genuine maximum storage capacity of pendrives that I can expect to buy at the time of posting (April 2021)?
2) Is there any practical upper limit to the capacity that Linux can deal with?
3) I would re-format the drive so that it can store files of over 4GB, while still being Windows-compatible. Is that going to create any problems with Linux?
4) Are USB 3 drives compatible with old USB 2 sockets?
5) For how many years can I expect the pendrive to retain the information?
6) Is true that pendrives are not affected at all by electro-magnetic fields, X-rays, etc?
Question one is my main concern - I do not want the hassle and disappointment of sending something back and hopefully getting a refund, and annoyingly being forced to pay the return postage for a defective item.
Thanks.
I have been browsing pen drives on a well-known international online retailer of books and other products. The price of the biggest capacity drives is only slightly more than the price of smaller drives.
One or two products appear to offer 1TB or 2TB, but when looking at the reviews they often say the product is defective in use or has a true capacity that is much less. The high-star reviews are by people who have not yet used or fully loaded the pendrive yet, or are for a completely different product.
1) In the actual experience of people who have actually tested or fully loaded their pendrive, what is the genuine maximum storage capacity of pendrives that I can expect to buy at the time of posting (April 2021)?
2) Is there any practical upper limit to the capacity that Linux can deal with?
3) I would re-format the drive so that it can store files of over 4GB, while still being Windows-compatible. Is that going to create any problems with Linux?
4) Are USB 3 drives compatible with old USB 2 sockets?
5) For how many years can I expect the pendrive to retain the information?
6) Is true that pendrives are not affected at all by electro-magnetic fields, X-rays, etc?
Question one is my main concern - I do not want the hassle and disappointment of sending something back and hopefully getting a refund, and annoyingly being forced to pay the return postage for a defective item.
Thanks.