| A Pen Drive is a compact, removable storage device | | | | except it is named as removable storage. |
| just like a floppy disk or a CD. Instead of the floppy | | | | The pen drive can be removed any time after it is |
| device or the CD ROM that are used for reading a | | | | un-mounted (safely remove hardware in case of |
| floppy disk and CD respectively, a pen drive can be | | | | Windows) and can be re-plugged into the same or a |
| plugged into the USB (Universal Serial Bus) Port of a | | | | different machine to be used again. A pen drive`s most |
| computer. The USB connectivity makes the pen drive | | | | important use is to transport data and files from one |
| easier to use and data can be transferred faster to | | | | machine to another. For e.g. one can simply copy all |
| and from the pen drive. | | | | the word processing documents, images and |
| Different Manufacturers have named Pen Drives they | | | | spreadsheets to the pen drive, carry it along and copy |
| manufacture differently. Today, a pen dive goes by | | | | the files on his/her home computer and work on it at |
| the names of thumb drive, USB flash drive, Jump Drive, | | | | home. |
| Traveler`s Drive, USB key drive, USB memory stick | | | | Some users have found the pen drive useful in moving |
| and many others! | | | | their internet browser History, Cache, Cookies, and |
| These pen drives are small, inexpensive, almost | | | | other transient data. This improves their privacy and |
| ubiquitous and extremely handy. They are available | | | | security as no traces of the work done on the |
| largely in the range of 1 to 8 GB which makes them of | | | | machine is left on the PC. Once copied to the drive, |
| great use and has made floppy disks and CDs look | | | | the files can be made more secured by encryption or |
| like useless storage mediums. | | | | any other method of security. |
| The credit of inventing the pen drives goes to IBM. It | | | | The pen drives can also be used to store operating |
| was invented in 1988 to replace the floppy disks, but | | | | systems to boot the computer. This makes them |
| IBM never patented it. IBM contracted in M-Systems to | | | | popular for repair and diagnostic work. Instead of |
| manufacture the Pen Drive and the patent is now | | | | carrying tools and maintenance software applications |
| owned by them. | | | | on CDs, a pen drive can be used which is faster and |
| The pen drive is a modern floppy disk. The main | | | | can be manipulated easily in case the software is |
| difference is that a floppy disk has moving parts which | | | | upgraded or is no more useful. |
| makes the data stored on the drive vulnerable to loss. | | | | A pen drive is one of the most economical mobile |
| A pen drive, on the other hand is a solid state device | | | | medium for data storage in terms of cost per unit |
| i.e. it has no moving parts. This makes it possible to | | | | storage space. They are really light-weight and robust |
| almost completely seal the pen drive making it | | | | in nature which has made it a big hit and a very |
| dust-proof and the common magnetic fields. Hence, a | | | | important and indispensable tool for a large number of |
| pen drive is a much safer option for storing important | | | | users. |
| data. | | | | This article is under GNU FDL license and can be |
| The latest operating systems like (Windows XP, Linux | | | | distributed without any previous authorization from the |
| and Mac OS 2) can recognize these pen drives and | | | | author. However the author's name and all the URLs |
| mount them automatically. Once it is connected, | | | | (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be |
| recognized and mounted by the operating system, it | | | | kept. |
| appears just like any other partition of the hard disk | | | | |