Using flash drives for long-term backups

I use a USB flash drive to backup my mom's iPhoto Library. I've heard, however, that flash drives are not reliable for long-term backups. Is this true? If so, what is the best alternative?

Ian Bickerstaffe wrote:
Hello VK,
If you had a 5Gb flash drive and a DVD - Which would be the safest, long term?
I have seen several DVD's that simply won't work after only a few years.
yes, I'm not a fan of DVD-Rs either. they do go bad pretty quickly (especially cheap ones) - quicker than flash drives in my experience. Personally, i only use regular external drives (and lately cloud storage) for backups.
Regards.
Ian.

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