1. Recommendation on the
Purchase of Flash Drives
Prepared by Adam R. Schott
SUNY College at Brockport
Department of Psychology
May 5, 2005
2. 2
Each semester, the Psychology department goes through an excessive amount of floppy
disks. In addition, some of the files that the faculty creates are too large to store on a
floppy disk. In an effort to reduce the department’s reliance on floppy disks and to meet
the needs of the Psychology faculty I have studied the feasibility of purchasing flash
drives as a replacement.
This report contains my findings and recommendation regarding the purchase of USB
flash drives for faculty use.
SURVEY RESULTS
To assess how the faculty uses secondary storage devices, I conducted a survey from
April 22 – 28 of this year. The survey was sent via memo to all Psychology faculty
members - ten surveys were returned.
The survey measured the quantity and type of disks used, whether disks are re-used from
semester to semester, how they are primarily used (i.e. to back-up files, transfer files
between computers, etc.), and whether the faculty member would use a flash drive if one
were purchased for them.
Results of Storage Device Use Survey
n=10
1
9
75
7
4 3
5
2
7
5 6
1
10
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
Yes
No
#Floppy
#Zip
#CD-R
Re-use
New
Both
Transfer
Store
Backup
Other
Yes
No
Currently own a flash
drive
Quantity of disks used Re-use or use new each
semester
Primary use of storage devices Would use a
flash drive if
purchased
Question
Response
This number is an estimate - the true value may be
higher. Some respondents answered "many" which I
converted to a score of 10
Six of the ten respondents indicated that they used ten or more floppy disks a
semester and seven respondents require new disks each semester. All respondents said
that they would use a flash drive if the department purchased one.
3. 3
ADVANTAGES OF FLASH DRIVES
There are many advantages to using a flash drive over a floppy disk; most notably is their
storage capacity. A 128MB flash drive has the same storage capacity as approximately
ninety floppy disks.
The second advantage of flash drives is they can be used on any computer.
Flash drives plug into the computer’s Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and require no
formatting prior to use. All computers have at least two USB ports. The same flash drive
can be used on both PC and Macintosh computers; floppy disks can only be used on the
platform it is formatted for. Zip disks require a special drive that does not come standard
on most computers and some newer computers no longer have floppy drives as a standard
feature.
The third advantage of flash drives is their speed. The data transfer rate for a USB 2.0
flash drive is 4 mbps to 12 mbps depending on the model. Floppy drives transfer data at
only 0.5 mbps.
COSTS
The department currently purchases floppy disks in packs of fifty, which cost $14.18.
Flash drives suitable for the department’s use range from $17.52 each to $39.99 each.
There is a three-pack available for $69.991
.
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend that the department purchase flash drives for faculty use for the following
reasons:
1. Increased Productivity - The computers on campus run very slow and many times
it takes a long time for files to save and load. Many of the faculty members use
disks to store their classroom presentations on. These presentations often take a
while to load on the classroom computers - flash drives will cut down on the load
time giving professors more time to actually teach their class.
2. File Integrity - This semester there have been several security issues with the
campus computers. Many computers have been affected by viruses or otherwise
incapacitated and instructors have not had access to important files. Flash drives
serve as an excellent back-up tool due to their storage capacity.
I recommend CompUSA as the supplier due to their large selection and price stability. A
detailed list of specific flash drives I recommend is attached to the end of this report;
1
This item is available via delivery from the CompUSA website or the Amherst, NY (Buffalo) Store. It is
currently out-of-stock in Rochester.
4. 4
along with the pictures and specifications of each drive. While there are less expensive
drives with the same storage capacity, their casings are not very sturdy and the drive can
break very easily. The SanDisk® Cruzer™ series should be specifically avoided as it is
very poorly constructed.
