Is it safe to store game installers on a flash drive?

Hardware
1

Hey everyone,

I’ve been looking for info on this, but most of what I found is about actually playing games from a flash drive, which isn’t what I’m asking.

I use GOG and I want to download game installers to my PC and save them on a flash drive. If I ever want to install a game, I’d plug the flash drive in, install the game to my SSD, and then remove the flash drive. Is that safe to do? Will it damage the flash drive over time?

Thanks for your help!

2

Yes, it’s fine as long as the drive is in good condition.

3

Definitely, it should work just fine. Just make sure to get a good quality drive, since cheap ones are often slow and tend to fail quickly.

4

Bevan said:
Definitely, it should work just fine. Just make sure to get a good quality drive, since cheap ones are often slow and tend to fail quickly.

Thanks! What kind of drive should I get? Any recommendations on what to avoid? I don’t know much about this.

5

There’s no issue with storing game installers on flash drives! But keep in mind that flash drives can degrade over time. I had a flash drive from ten years ago that had some music on it, and half of it is now corrupted. So it’s best not to rely on it as your only backup.

6

@Declan
What you’re talking about is called bit-rot. It happens to all types of storage, just over different time frames.

7

Yeah, like others said, it’s fine. But if you want to keep it for a long time, follow the 3-2-1 backup rule: 3 copies, 2 different types of storage, and 1 off-site. I recommend checking out the community wiki from /r/DataHoarder for tips on backups.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/wiki/backups

8

USB flash drives are slow…

If you want something faster and more stable, consider buying a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD (Gen4) with 7000MB/s speed, plus an external USB4 M.2 SSD case or a USB-C 10Gbps case, and use a USB4 40Gbps cable. It’s much faster and more reliable.