Tuesday, April 1, 2008

USB Drive



A USB Device is a NAND-type flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB (universal serial bus) connector. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, much shorter than a floppy disk (1-4 inches or 25-102 mm), and weigh less than 2 ounces (56g). Storage capacities range from 64MB to 16GB[1] or more. Some allow 1 million write or erase cycles and have 10-year data retention,[3] connected by USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 or both. 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 for 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.

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