If there is data being constantly written to these disks, they will eventually fail. They have a limited number of write cycles. The max number of write cycles is very high, but it is not infinite, and it is also more of a range where some disks may be better than others. It really depends how much you are writing to the disk.

Flash media like SD cards store data by storing charge. I suppose if the SD card is always plugged in and being used you don't have to worry about charge leaking, but if you leave the SD card in a shelf for a while, you should consider it. The charge that is stored on the card slowly dissipates and you may get corruption. I've noticed that ones that are left connected to a device and used more often don't suffer from corruption, while the ones left in a shelf drawer do.

In your case it could be just a bad card.

rtmistler - Sandisk Pro and above is all i use. I always thought those were pretty good and worth the price.

metaschima - I was always taught it was an electromagnetic impression but it may be a slight bit different for solid state devices. I am more and more switching to and learning about solid state. I did leave them in a special holder for over a month for the others which recently failed called a "Dime card micro" 8 slot wallet card holder.

I am currently using a Windows machine. My laptop which ran Linux from a USB is currently awaiting replacement but the ideas here so far are wonderful and shed a new light on things i had not previously considered. I use a USB over a hard drive, (which go's into a single special port on the side which remains covered,) rather than a hard drive so no matter what i have a O.S. and can boot it on my Windows machine or any other without issue or fail. I just use a hard drive for storage, i won't install anything to it.

USB/SD flash storage is not designed for the constant I/O of an operating system. Using them in this application will tear through their write cycles very quickly. You should really reconsider your stance on installing to the system drive.

If you MUST put your OS on a removable drive, at LEAST make it an external HDD or SSD, not a USB flash drive or SD card.

Most corruption of external media is caused by not unmounting them properly before removal.

For backup media of the size you are wanting, I would use an external (2.5") disk. (SSD or HDD)

Price and personal preferences vary. The points being made are that SD cards are flash cards with a limited amount of write cycles.

No idea what the point here is. I've had many disks, flash or otherwise which last either in shelf life or in systems where they are data sources. I.e. A flash card in a picture frame; it's lasted for years mostly powered, and when power is lost and recovered, it still works. Others have sat in drawers for years and when they've been pulled back out, they still contain the data they previously had.

Funny, I do the exact opposite. I install the OS to my hard drive and use external HDD to store all my data. Same result, separation of data from the OS.

suicidaleggroll: Sandisk v64Gb Firebirds are made for such things. Very high grade and not an issue in the I/O read write with the disk itself as long as it is a high speed/primary port. I been using the same one for over a year with no degradation to the disk as tests show. I did a lot of months of home work before doing this and never stopped. The real issue in this way is usually adding a bad component to lock the system up when such things like that happens, per-say you start with Linux Mint Ubuntu and add in the XFCE desktop and a different file manager improperly say you do one in terminal, another in the software manager and another tweak with Synap then you borked it but the break wont be for 3+ boots till you notice it. Learned that the hard way and since corrected it over 2 years ago. Haven't repeated that issue since. Thus, if one is careful, its not always what you mix but how you mix it and what conflicts there will be and if there are how best to resolve them. (I hate that word "Borked" because its only ever as broke as one is willing to admit defeat with Linux ever and is typically an excuse.)

fatmac: Your on to something here i think because i did notice the disks did get stuck in the ejection process a few times before but it was a while back. I since corrected the issue. Typically this is another situation, (as i recall,) which can displace sectors on a disk. Which is a problem. This was found via testing the disk. Which i do on a monthly or every 3 week basis, typically between that time frame.

rtmistler: I am beginning to notice the limit in write cycles. There should be a way to flash out the memory though. As for your second quote, you basically said it for me, i didn't get it either and do the same and don't usually have this issue even have a digital picture frame myself. I didn't see the logic in it either but was my basic idea of these things. Correct it if its wrong but references would be great from a reputable place if so. I can't subscribe to the agree to this idea they stay electronically charged, i dissect these and other disks and have been learning to build them myself from scrap and other purchased parts so there is that. In regards to the third quote, yea i know its funny but its not the issue, lma@o! Its easier to clone that way, forget backing it up. I am not a "Backup" kind of guy in the normal context, i clone and manually copy my data, then every 3rd backup i backup that backup after scanning it with a large number of scanners. I have however been working on acquiring a reasonable solid state drive to clone the system onto, then i have had great success at simply expanding the system to the remaining space on the drive. So i have done it but i like that i can put it in the machine of choice. I also know how USB ports are being exploited, i am no stranger to BlackHat and in learning some things i find one can also prevent some things antivirus can not. Security dose stay in mind. Nothing is perfect.

Overall i think it depends on grade of materials used in the device, the port being used and why, the complexity of the read/write and the internal dynamics as in how often its used and for what amount of data. Based on some basics one can make educated choices and still run into the issues and fact all disks eventually die no matter what. But not all at once. This is a very intelligent and impressive thread, its gonna clearly help a lot of people but thus far my issue remains.