Portable storage questions.

At the moment I move a lot to and from the office and home using a 1.0GB sandisk USB drive. At the same time, a copy of current files are kept on an SD card (read via a card reader).

i.e when i get into the office, I plug in my sd card as a main "personal" drive, then use the usb pen drive as a portable device to move between machines.

recently, i've spotted 4GB sd cards and 4GB pen drives but am not 100% certain or confident about their stability.
at the same time, I've seen cheap 4GB usb HD but these sometimes have problems being recognised in our office where the ub pen-drives seem to be problem free.

i guess my question is: how stable are sd cards, usb drives and the usb HD drives?
bear in mind that files are only current for about 3 months before being deleted from my "personal" drive and smaller files are updated/deleted on a daily basis; these things are written and re-written a lot over a week.

I don't know if this helps any, but I purchased a 4GB SD card made by Kingston for $17.99 at Newegg a couple of months back. I bought it for my digital camera seeing how inexpensive it was.( I have a 512 MB card for it that costs me $12.00 more when I bought it 3 years ago!) My camera now has the storage capabilities of over 2200 pictures with the 4GB card installed. I have not had any problems or issues with the card. I would definitely buy it again if given the opportunity.

It boils down to what type of storage it is. Flash memory is very reliable and can be written over hundreds of thousands of times before being "used up". Those tiny portable hard drives are just that...a hard drive. With mechanical moving parts. More chance of failure. If your really looking for portable storage, I would stick to a flash drive or if your always carrying a card reader then an SD card would be fine. Portable hard drives are a step down IMO.

Portable hard drives have the best "bang for your buck" in terms of capacity, but you have to be VERY careful not to bump them while they are running - or expect it to have a short life.

Flash memory options like USB and SD cards are very reliable when handled properly, many people still have keys they purchased ~5 years ago working fine. I tend to like Corsair USB drives because they features a 10 year warranty - and that equates to peace of mind for me.

However, I think the real crux of the issue here is using networks properly - if you have a Laptop that travels between work and home, I suggest setting up Offline files for your personal data, and backing it up to somewhere on your home network as neccesary. If both computers are desktops, I suggest investigating an online storage option, or using a VPN connection to use offline files again.

:)

SD cards rule. Stay with name brands though like Lexar, Sandisk, and Kingston. PNY ain't bad, although I've had a few problems with certain computers reading them and since it's not for a camera, then go with known brands.

Speed is also good because like cameras, it's the ability to to read and move info to and from the card. Adorama has Sandisk Extreme III for cheap right now with a mail in rebate. They're...30mbps I believe. Yeah.

Only reason I have a portable HD is for pictures. I have over 12GB and growing at a steady rate. Taking up memory too quickly.