A flash drive can be erased and reused by formatting the flash drive or by deleting the files from the flash drive or even use a file shredding process.
To format the flash drive and erase and reuse it start by inserting the flash drive into the USB port, then open file explore and find your flash drive under the devices and drives.
Then select format and choose a file system such as NTFS and click start and wait for the formatting process to finish.
It is safe to store data on a flash drive although you should also ensure that the data is stored on other drives as well including hard drives, online, portable hard drives etc.
The more places you have your data backed up the better and you should also do your best to not lose the flash drive or someone could access your data if you lose it.
Also if not using the flash drive and you have data on it you should ideally lock it in a safe or somewhere secure and especially if you have sensitive information or data on the flash drive.
The disadvantages of using flash drives including USB flash drives are limited capacity, limited lifespan, limited read and write cycles, security risks and possible loss of data.
Flash drives including USB flash drives are easy to lose or be stolen as they are small and portable and can put your data at risk if you lose them.
The USB flash drive and other flash drives can easily be accessed by anyone who comes across your flash drive.
Flash drives can also be infected with computer viruses, spyware or malware and lead to data leakage.
Flash memory can also erode over time and lead to data loss if disconnected from a power supply for too long and the flash drives can also wear out over time and cause corruption of data.
Flash drives including USB memory sticks are great for storing data and accessing data although they shouldn't be solely relied on for data storage.
You should also keep your data backed up on multiple hard drives and storage devices including online.
A USB stick will hold data for around 10 years although sometimes the data may still be on the USB stick after 10 years but it depends on the quality of the USB stick and how often it's plugged into your computer.
If the USB stick is left unplugged from the computer without any power going to it the USB stick could lose the data after 10 years.
So it's best to plug the USB stick in occasionally access the data to keep it in good shape.
USB sticks are not being phased out although due to the rise of cloud storage and other data storage options available the USB memory sticks are not as popular as the used to be.
Still though USB sticks or USB memory sticks are still very popular and popular enough that they are still being made and sold and it's unlikely that USB memory sticks are gonna be phased out anytime soon.
USB sticks are also good for boot drives as well and installing software along with backing up data and carrying that data with you.
Many people do still use USB flash drives as they are compact, portable and easy to store data on and take the data where you need too.
USB flash drives will likely be used for many years as they are very good and reliable for data storage although you should also store data on other drives as well including online for important data that you want to back up.
The lifespan of a USB memory stick is around 10 years.
However some USB memory sticks may last longer than 10 years and some USB memory sticks may last less time.
The actual lifespan of the USB memory stick also depends on the write cycles and erase cycles.
The more write cycles and erase cycles on the USB memory stick the shorter it's lifespan.
USB memory sticks can handle between 10,000 to 100,000 write and erase cycles depending on the USB memory stick.
The number of the write cycles on the USB memory stick also affects how likely the data on the USB memory stick is to deteriorate.
The cheaper models of USB memory sticks tend to have shorter lifespans and the more expensive USB memory sticks tend to last longer.
USB memory sticks or flash drives can also fail prematurely if they get abused or are exposed to any extreme temperatures or humidity.
The signs that your USB memory stick are failing are the files are unreadable or inaccessible, the available space on the USB memory stick is less than advertised, the computer doesn't recognize the USB memory stick and the read and write cycles of the USB memory stick are slower than normal.
To extend the lifespan of your USB memory stick you should eject the USB memory stick before removing it, keep it in a good safe place, avoid exposing the USB memory stick to any humidity or extreme temperatures and if possible use high quality USB memory sticks or flash drives which use Grade A memory.
After 10 years I would not rely too much on the USB memory stick for keeping the data safe.
Always backup your data on multiple drives and memory sticks to have copies in case the USB memory stick or one drive happens to fail.
I back my data up on multiple drives, online and offline and don't rely on just one memory stick or hard drive to store data.