To archive data for long periods of time I recommend the SanDisk Extreme Go USB Drive, available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. I chose this model because of:
The high transfer speed which will allow for some of the fastest reads and writes currently available in USB Drives. This will greatly reduce the time spent loading large amounts of data.
It is designed for long life under use so if your archive must be accessed many times through the years it will survive longer than standard USB drives.
There is one caveat when using USB Drives or any flash based storage for long term archival. In the world of storage, flash is still a fairly young technology so we don’t have definitive knowledge regarding its durability over many decades. While flash chips are nonvolatile, meaning they continue to store information even when there is no power source, that data is retained in the form of an electron charge. Over long periods of time the charge could be lost.
Plugging the drive into a powered device occasionally should mitigate loss of charge by recharging the cells, but there are some indications that without being plugged in, USB drives may have an upper limit of ~10 years for retaining charge.
Here’s a decent article about different options for archiving data.
https://www.howtogeek.com/
I hope this information was helpful. Please contact me anytime if you have further questions.
Best regards,
Shaun
