Total Media is proud to
now offer USB Flash Drive Duplication. Stay on the
forefront of new technology and deliver your digital
information in the newest, most compatible format
there is. Call Total Media today for a competitive
quote.
All About Flash Drives..
USB flash drives are NAND-type flash memory data storage
devices integrated with a USB (universal serial bus)
connector. They are typically small, lightweight,
removable and rewritable. (USB Memory card readers
are also available, whereby rather than being built-in,
the memory is a removable flash memory card housed
in what is otherwise a regular USB flash drive, as
described below.)
USB flash drives offer potential
advantages over other portable storage devices, particularly
the floppy disk. They are more compact, faster, hold
more data, are more reliable due to their lack of
moving parts, and have a more durable design. Additionally,
it has become increasingly common for computers to
ship without floppy disk drives. USB ports, on the
other hand, appear on almost every current mainstream
PC and laptop. These types of drives use the USB mass
storage standard, supported natively by modern operating
systems such as Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other
Unix-like systems.
With nothing being mechanically
driven in a flash drive, the name is something of
a misnomer. It is called a "drive" because
it appears to the computer operating system (and the
user) in a manner identical to a mechanical disk drive,
and is accessed in the same way.
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.
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.
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