| "> | | | | 2000!! |
| Despite there being hundreds of millions of USB flash | | | | Inside every USB flash drive is a small printed circuit |
| drives in use today thee are still a surprising number of | | | | board (controller chip) that is connected to a flash |
| people who are not quite sure what they are. Here's a | | | | memory module (the piece on which the data is |
| simple guide. Normal 0 | | | | stored). These two elements are then encased in an |
| Not everyone is familiar with exactly what a USB | | | | outer shell that is typically made of plastic, metal or |
| Flash Drive is, what it’s used for and why they | | | | more recently wood/bamboo. |
| are becoming increasing popular. So here’s a | | | | The USB connector that protrudes out of the end of a |
| basic guide to what a USB Flash Drive is: | | | | flash drive is simply inserted into any PC or Mac and |
| USB Flash drives (also known as USB memory sticks, | | | | then the storage space on the USB flash drive is |
| USB pen drives or USB thumb drives) were first | | | | accessible and data can to saved to/from the drive. |
| commercially available in the year 2000. IBM launched | | | | USB flash drives don’t need batteries because |
| them under the brand name DiskOnKey and | | | | they draw all the power they need to work from the |
| they were introduced as a replacement for the floppy | | | | USB port they are plugged into. |
| disc. By today’s standard the first USB flash | | | | Today USB flash drives are very popular with |
| drives had a tiny 8MB of storage capacity but even | | | | companies because they can print their logo or brand |
| this was 4 times the amount of data that could be | | | | onto the outside casing of the flash drive and give |
| stored on a floppy disk. | | | | them away at trade shows, conference, exhibitions |
| The portability of USB flash drives and the ability to | | | | and so on. With the large amount of storage space |
| carry your data around on a key ring or lanyard and | | | | now available on entry level versions of the flash drive |
| simply plug it into a PC via a USB port meant they | | | | companies are also pre-loading their sales brochures |
| became very popular very quickly. Essentially a USB | | | | and other marketing material onto the memory of the |
| flash drive is a just a way of storing data and storing it | | | | flash drive — this not only saves them printing |
| on something that is lightweight, easy to carry, easy to | | | | and transportation costs but it’s a really |
| use and works on all PC and Mac platforms. | | | | effective way of distributing large amounts of data |
| Over time larger storage capacities became available | | | | and information about their company. |
| and the data transfer speeds increased to support the | | | | People that are given branded flash drives (flash |
| movement of larger amounts of information. Today | | | | drives printed with a company logo on) are typically |
| typical USB flash drives are 2GB to 4GB but drives up | | | | delighted to receive them because they have a high |
| to a whopping 64GB are now making their way into | | | | perceived value and because they can use they to |
| the market. A 64GB flash drive holds 8,000 times | | | | save and transport their own data around. |
| more data than the 8MB version first introduced in | | | | |