On Sun, 20 May 2018 02:17:31 +0100, Paul wrote:

Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Thu, 17 May 2018 14:12:54 +0100, Doomsdrzej wrote:

On Thu, 17 May 2018 07:49:55 +1000, Peter Jason wrote:

I have many USB2 & USB3 going back 10+ years, and
now some are "socket specific" on my 10 YO
computer motherboard (some USB3s will work on some
sockets; even USB2 sockets) and not others.

Do these thumb drives last forever, or should
their contents be transferred to the latest USB
drives?

Theoretically, they should last a long time but a lot can destroy them
like moisture and a seemingly miniscule amount of bending. I'd
transfer their contents to more recent, faster USB keys.

I was given one that was stood upon by a 15 stone man. The data was not
recoverable.

They do make rugged ones.

https://www.amazon.com/LaCie-XtremKe.../dp/B00AMMI6VQ

https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414162,00.asp

"...crushing force (it will withstand 10 tons)"

An Amazon review, claims the internal USB key portion,
will separate from the threaded screw cap, so while the
outside is rugged, the connection between the innards
and the cap isn't perfect.

So this is for a bricklayer who has to carry gigabytes of data with him :-)

--
I just sent my lawyer something for his birthday. Unfortunately, he wasn't home when it went off.