Experts sensationally declared that memory cards will not die out

Gadgets popular 5-10 years ago are becoming obsolete before our eyes, but this does not apply to flash drives

In November, a number of Russian IT experts announced the disappearance of wired devices, infrared remote controls and flash drives of information (in common people – flash drives) in the near future. The “killer” of these household appliances, according to experts, has become the ecosystem of smartphones, where, in particular, information is stored in the Internet “cloud”.

The trend towards placing data in the “cloud” has become obvious, and many users have forgotten about flash drives. However, these devices will not die out completely, said in an interview with MK, a specialist in the IT support service of a large Russian corporation.

– Yes, floppy disks have died out, optical media are practically the same, but the situation there was completely different, – says the expert. – In previous cases, one local removable drive was replaced by another, more convenient and operational. It is assumed that flash drives will be completely replaced by cloud storage. But this is incredible.

A local storage will always be necessary for the secure transfer of sensitive information, the source of MK emphasized. The fact is that using software methods it is impossible to 100% isolate a computer from external networks where confidential data is being processed, if such a connection physically exists. This means that a medium will always be needed to exchange information with such computers.

– In addition, drives are used not only on computers, but also, say, on machine tools with numerical control (CNC), – adds the expert. – All machines are not possible and do not need to be connected to the Internet. So, to download programs into them, you will need to use flash drives.

The second area of ​​application where such drives can be used is work in hard-to-reach places when it is impossible to connect to the “cloud”. “You don’t want to provide collective work on flash drives, but in the event of a complete fall of the Internet, we have a special protocol for such work.”

Reality forced us to update such instructions and protocols: when at the beginning of this year it turned out that it was necessary to be prepared for the possibility of turning off the usual Internet tools, the necessary instructions were updated and supplemented.

Finally, the third sphere of action of flash drives, where they remain out of competition, is downloading software updates to devices that do not provide (including for security reasons) access to the Internet. Such, for example, many modern cars. A number of brands do not have the option of automatic updating “over the air”, but there is the possibility of updating under the terms of the service.