What Is the Difference Between a Photo Stick and a Flash Drive?

Photo Stick and a Flash Drive

Photo Stick and Flash Drive are the two most usable devices at this time. The basic functionality of those two devices is the same. They are generally used to store and backup photos, videos, or other files. With a Flash Drive and a Photo Stick, you can also transport files from one source to another source. Along with many similarities, there is still some difference in a Photo Stick and a Flash Drive. 

According to Nerdknowbetter, a Flash Drive works with supporting software while Photo Stick works with built-in software. The appearance of these two devices is almost the same without the port facilities. This write-up will go through the difference between Photo Stick and Flash Drive in their functionalities.

What is a Photo Stick?

Photo Stick is the name of a trademark device that is normally used to reserve and move media files. The design of a Photo Stick is like a Flash Drive. You need to do is plug in the Photo Stick in your computer and click on Go. It will scan your media file by itself and store it on it. It will take 10 to 20 minutes to scan the media file depending on the number of media files.

The other thing a Photo Stick does is that it deletes all the duplicate files in your computer by filtering all the files. It will not ask you before deleting the duplicate file even. The photos are saved constantly into the device after the scanning. If you unplugged the Photo Stick after scanning the media files were saved. 

Photo Stick has two kinds of ports to the plugin. One is a USB type C or B port to plugin with a computer. Another is to plug in with a mobile device. PhotoStick is used to perform one task that is to store media files. It is an essential device for the photographer.

What is a Flash Drive?

A Flash Drive is a free storage device. That is generally used to transfer and store any kind of file like doc, pdf, txt, etc. Flash Drive is also known as Pendrive. It comes with removal and rewritable facilities. You can store any file on it and erase it when you want. The lifespan of a Flash Drive depends on how many times you have used it. The more you rewrite files on Flash Drive the more it will reduce its lifespan.

The best benefit of a Flash Drive is you can use it with any USB port. You can utilize it as a portable hard drive. It has versatile usable facilities. This type of Flash Drive is also usable in android TV to watch any media file by storing media files on it.

Flash Drive comes with different types of speed capabilities. USB 1.0, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB 4.0 are different types of Flash Drive. Those Flash Drive are categorized according to the data transfer capabilities. USB type 4.0 has the highest data transfer rate.

What Is The Difference Between A Photo Stick And A Flash Drive?

From the above discussion, you may guess the major difference between a Photo Stick and a Flash Drive. With the difference of Functionality, Capacity, Applied Device, and appearance they are altered to one another. Let’s see the difference in details below.

  • Functionality-  The vital difference is its Functionality. The Photo Stick is designed for performing one type of task. That is scan the media file and store them with the help of built-in software. Photo Stick is only capable of scanning media files like Photos and Videos. The only task of Photo Stick is to store them and transfer them.

On the other side, a Flash Drive is able to transfer and store any kind of file format. It is not only able to perform one task only rather it is used for multi-purpose. A photo stick is able to be used as an external hard drive. It has no limit to store various types of files. A Flash Drive can read almost all types of files.

  • Capacity- According to the storage capacity, there is a big difference between a Photo Stick and Flash Drive. A Photo Stick has to deal with a large number of files like RAW images and HD Quality video. Thus, a Photo Stick storage capacity starts with a large capacity like 1T, 512GB, 256GB, etc. In an 8GB Photo Stick, you can store almost 3000 images that have an average size.

Besides, a Flash Drive has to deal with small and large amounts of file both. In a Flash Drive, you can store a 2KB .txt. file and a 50GB Video file also. For this reason, the capacity of Flash Drive starts from small to higher. You will find Flash Drive from 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and many more according to your need.

  • Applied Device- According to the applied device facilities Photo Stick is considered as a global device. Because it has compatibility with all the devices like PC, Laptop, Smartphone, Tablet, etc. They are completely assured to use with all devices and have good performance. You can use Photo Stick with a computer and a mobile phone simultaneously. It may slow in performance but actually worked. We recommend avoiding those types of uses.

Moreover, a Flash Drive is only able to run with a USB port like a PC or Laptop. It has only one USB port to connect with a computer. You cannot use Flash Drive on a Smartphone. You need an extra cable of OTG to use on a Smartphone. A Flash Drive is supported in all platforms like Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems.

  • Appearance- You may think the appearance of Flash Drive and a Photo Stick is the same. Some people are really confused about that. Those two devices look the same according to size and weight. Only the difference between a Photo Stick and a Flash Drive is in the data transfer port. You will find two kinds of data transfer port in a Photo Stick type B and C. one for connecting to the USB port and another is for connecting with a mobile phone.

In a Flash Drive, you will find only one data transfer port to transfer or store data with a computer. But in some Photo Stick, you will find three data transfer ports for connecting with iOS devices also.

Final Word

Storing photos and other files become an essential thing in our daily life. You frequently have to store media files and other documents for our official purpose. We need to transfer files from one source to another source. These two handy devices can remove your fear of losing any kind of file. Without wasting time and money you can store thousands of your files safely.

After going through this passage we hope you have understood the difference between a Photo Stick and  Flash Drive. Now you can choose the right device for your specific purposes and can take good care of your files.