Memory: USB, Flash Drives, and Flash Memory
USB flash drives are quite often employed to replace the floppy drives of yesteryear, and to prevent the inconvenience of burning CDs frequently. The ...
USB flash drives are quite often employed to replace the floppy drives of yesteryear, and to prevent the inconvenience of burning CDs frequently. The flash memory USB drives are sized much smaller, have much quicker read and write speeds, and are infinitely more durable because of the lack of moving parts. Until around 2006, most desktop and laptop computers came standard with floppy drives; nowadays, they are abandoned in favor of USB ports and flash memory readers.
Sizes
USB flash memory comes in commonly-sold sizes such as 128MB, 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB, but it can be purchased in even higher capacities. Currently, it’s possible to find sizes as high as 256GB, although capacities at that level are still quite expensive.
Applications
In addition to the obvious use of storing files, there are other uses for flash memory USB drives that are gaining popularity. Some system administrators use USB flash drives to carry commonly-used spyware or virus-scan programs. This helps prevent the need to hook up the infected machine to the network, potentially causing other infected machines.
Some companies have also taken to having promotional USB drives made. Usually, these have product catalogs in PDF or other electronic formats, or sample and trial software. It is just as cost-effective and usually easier to employ this method versus having CDs or DVDs replicated and packaging designed. Another unique idea that promotional USB drives are used for is music promotion and distribution. Many artists (both indie and major-label) have distributed albums or special recordings on flash memory USB drives. Some companies also make promotional USB flash pens that serve a dual purpose.
Disadvantages
Like any consumer product, there are a few disadvantages. USB memory can sustain only a certain number of reads/writes before failure. This is commonplace among any kind of media, however. Also, because of the typically small size, it’s easy to misplace or lose the USB drives. This isn’t necessarily the fault of the product, but is a drawback none the less. Lastly, although the drives are extremely cheap compared to even months ago, the price per unit is still much higher than a typical computer hard drive in larger capacities. Still yet, if you need a smaller capacity, the USB flash drive is still more cost-effective.
Please feel free to read the articles on our site to learn as much as possible in regards to memory, USB flash drives, and flash memory. We want you to be informed when you decide to make a USB flash memory purchase!