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Apr
We hear this question asked frequently here at CFgear, so we decided to “share the facts” with the world. The answer is directly related to what type of data you plan to store on your flash drive as well as how large the drive is.
A chart (for the graphically inclined)
Our calculations for this chart are based on the following:
- Photos: A photograph with a size of 1 MB
- Music: 3 minute MP3 audio file
- Power Point Presentations: Each a simple 52 page presentation
- Word Docs: Each consisting of 100 pages
- Excel Sheets: Each with a size of 120 Kb
- Videos: High quality in Mpeg4 format
In actual use, storage limits will vary from person to person. For example, if you’re a professional photographer and work primarily with pictures that are 3 or 4 MB each, your flash drive will reach capacity much faster than if your pictures averaged 1.5 MB each.
So, how much can you store on a flash drive?
Let’s look at it from a different perspective now. This time, our calculations are based on the following:
- A Word document with a size of 53 KB
- A photograph with a size of 1.6 MB
- An MP3 audio file (4 minutes long; 128kbs CD audio quality; approx 4 Mb/song)
Our calculations this time:
- 32 GB flash drive can store over 640,000 typical Word doc pages; 19,200 photographs; or 8,192 MP3 audio files.
- 16 GB flash drive can store over 320,000 typical Word doc pages; 9,600 photographs; or 4,096 MP3 audio files.
- 8 GB flash drive can store 160,000 typical Word doc pages; 4,800 photographs; or 2,048 MP3 audio files.
- 4 GB flash drive can store over 80,000 typical Word doc pages; 2,400 photographs; or 1,024 MP3 audio files.
- 2 GB flash drive can store over 40,000 typical Word doc pages; 1,200 photographs; or 512 MP3 audio files.
- 1 GB flash drive can store 20,000 typical Word doc pages; 640 photographs; or 256 MP3 audio files.
- 512 MB flash drive can store 9,600 typical Word doc pages; 320 photographs; or 128 MP3 audio files.
- 256 MB flash drive can store 4,800 typical Word doc pages; 160 photographs; or 64 MP3 audio files.
- 128 MB flash drive can store 2,400 typical Word doc pages; 80 photographs; or 32 MP3 music files.
- 64 MB flash drive can store 1,200 typical Word doc pages; 40 photographs; or 16 MP3 music files.
As you can see, the answer to the question of how much you can fit on a flash drive will vary greatly based on the average size of the files you are using. Back to our photographer example, if you would be loading RAW format photo files onto a flash drive (i.e. 8 Mb or more per picture), you would burn through a 2 GB flash drive much faster. If you were a musician and were saving your MP3s at a higher bitrate (a song at 256 Kb/s), your songs would run around 1.9 MB/minute and you would be able to save fewer songs on the flash drive.
What do you put on your flash drives? We’d love to know! Leave us a comment below with the creative ways you fill up your USB drives.
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- How Long Does a Flash Drive Last?
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16 Responses to “How much data can a USB flash drive hold?”
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Hi. I was hoping to get a quote on custom Flash Drives. Qty approx 120 with our logo on it, actually can you do two logos on it??? Please advise.
Thank You,
Monica
Thanks for contacting us, Monica! Based on the drive model, yes, some can definitely feature multiple logos. We’ll be in touch with you right away via your email address.
I am looking to purchase good quality flash drives 2 gb for use by 4th – 8th graders. 100 + Must be rugged. What would you suggest?
We’ve got several options for you, Marty, which would work great in a middle school setting. We’ll be in touch with you ASAP by email. Thanks for contacting us!
Thank you for a straight answer about how much info a 2GB can hold.
Anytime, Scottie! Thanks for dropping by our site. We’re glad to be of help however we can.
I want to store Quicken entries for an exempt organization that I am the treasurer for. The entries also have attachments for validation purposes. How would I equate these entries to the information you provide on this site re how much data can be stored on a flash drive. You speak of word documents, pictures and MP3 music files. Thanks.
Becky, I’ve forwarded your question to one of our Solutions Directors. Thanks!
hi, i was just wandering. i work in a computer store…and my question is, which of the above flash drives is more commonly bought among people? also thank you for the quick learning experience.
Michael,
Thanks for the question! Here’s the rundown:
50% of the flash drives we sell are 1GB
20% are 2GB drives
15% are 256MB drives
10% are 4GB drives
and the remaining 5% is everything else!
If we can help you in any other way, please don’t hesitate to drop us a note or give us a call anytime.
I am about to enter College and will be using a macbook Pro. I would like to purchase a flash drive to essentially back up all the papers/assignments I will be doing. For 4 years of use, what size flash drive would you recommend (I was debating between 16GB and 32GB), or do you think a portable hard drive would be better suited for my needs? Any help would be gretly appreciated
Anthony – Great question! A 16GB flash drive can hold a surprisingly large amount of information and, based on how much multimedia (i.e. pictures, videos, sound files, powerpoint files) you would need to store, you could probably get away with just a 16GB flash drive. If, however, you want to err on the safe side, then just pick up a 32GB drive (but your cost is going to drastically escalate). If you plan to be a very heavy user (er, storer) of video files, then you’ll want to just invest into a portable hard drive. Hope this helps!
I’d like to know how many songs can a 1GB flash drive hold?
Thank you for your question, James. It really depends on the quality of the song files. If your songs have a high bit rate, then you’ll be able to save fewer MP3 files to your flash drive.
If we go with a CD audio quality bit rate of 128 k/s, then each minute duration for a song would require about 1 Mb of space on the flash drive. If your songs were 3 minutes long, then each song would require about 3 Mb; a 1 Gb flash drive could then hold 320 or so songs. If your songs were 5 minutes long, then each song would require about 5 Mb; a 1 Gb flash drive could then hold 180 or so songs.
ok so let me see if I understand correctly,, an 8Gb flash drive will hold more quality cd songs than song downloaded like from Itune or any other source?
also any recommendation on any specific brand or quality flash drive I should get specifically for music?