USB Flash Drive Frequently Asked Questions
Have a question about USB flash drives? Chances are you'll find the answer here!
What is a USB Flash Drive?
A flash drive consists of a small printed circuit board typically in a plastic or metal casing and more recently in rubber casings to increase their robustness. This makes the drive sturdy enough to be carried about in a pocket, for example as a key fob, or on a lanyard. Only the USB connector protrudes, and it is typically protected either by a removable cap or by retracting into the body of the drive. Most flash drives use a standard type-A USB connection allowing them to be connected directly to a port on a personal computer.
How is USB flash drive data accessed?
To access the data stored in a flash drive, the drive must be connected to a USB port, either a host controller built into a computer, a USB hub, or some other device designed to access the data, such as an mp3 player with a USB-in port. Flash drives are active only when plugged into a USB connection and draw all necessary power from the supply provided by that connection. However, some flash drives, especially high-speed drives, may require more power than the limited amount provided by a bus-powered USB hub, such as those built into some computer keyboards or monitors. These drives will not work unless plugged directly into a host controller (i.e., the ports found on the computer itself) or a self-powered hub.
Who invented the USB Flash Drive?
The Israeli company M-Systems (acquired by SanDisk in November 2006) had been working on a USB flash drive since 1998. They registered the domain www.diskonkey.com on October 12, 1999, indicating their intention to sell a product. In 2000 Dan Harkabi joined the M-Systems team and led the development of DiskOnKey. The industrial design was done by Ziba and the product won the IDEA award in 2001. M-Systems' patent rigorously describes the USB flash drive and its implementation.
What types of USB flash drives are available?
USB flash drives have been integrated into other tools commonly carried on one's person such as a watches, pens, and even the Swiss Army Knife; others have been fitted with novelty cases such as toy cars or LEGO bricks. The small size, robust nature and relatively low price of USB flash drives makes them an increasingly popular peripheral for case modding.
Are USB flash drives a good method of data transport?
Flash drives are nearly impervious to the scratches and dust that were problematic for previous forms of portable storage, such as compact discs and floppy disks, and their durable solid-state design means they often survive casual abuse. This makes them ideal for transporting personal data or work files from one location to another, such as from home to school or office or for carrying around personal data that the user typically wants to access in a variety of places. The near-ubiquity of USB support on modern computers means that such a drive will work in most places.
How much can a USB flash drive store?
Flash drives are also a relatively dense form of storage, where even the cheapest will store dozens of floppy disks worth of data. Many can hold more data than a CD. Top of the line flash drives can store more data than a DVD, although flash drives with 16GB storage are now common.
Does a USB flash drive use much power?
The power consumption of a typical flash drive is very low, much lower than that of the common alternative, the portable hard disk, due to there being no moving parts inside a flash drive. Portable hard disks, on the other hand, require several motors or actuators to rotate the disk platter, and move the read / write head. Consequently, the USB flash drive need not be as big, or heavy, allowing greater portability.
Are flash drives widely compatible?
Flash drives implement the USB mass storage device class, meaning that most modern operating systems can read and write to flash drives without any additional device drivers. The flash drives present a simple block-structured logical unit to the host operating system, hiding the individual complex implementation details of the various underlying flash memory devices. The operating system can use whatever type of file system or block addressing scheme it wants. Some computers have the ability to boot up from flash drives.
How durable are USB flash drives?
Some flash drives can retain their memory after being submerged in water, even through a machine wash. Leaving the flash drive out to dry completely before allowing current to run through it has been known to result in a working drive with no future problems. Channel Five's Gadget Show cooked a flash drive with propane, froze it with dry ice, submerged it in various acidic liquids, ran over it with a jeep and fired it against a wall with a mortar. A company, specializing in recovering lost data from computer drives, managed to recover all the data on the drive. All the other removal storage devices, using optical or magnetic discs or semiconductor (Secure Digital) were completely destroyed.
