Top Using For USB Flash Drives

usb flash drive USB flash drives are convenient little gadgets. I remember the days when we were using 1.44 MB floppy drives to move things around. What a pain those were! The capacity was pitiful, giving rise to utilities designed to split up a single file among multiple floppies. Then CDs became the norm. CDs offer much higher capacity, but they do not operate like a hard drive. They are also pretty slow. DVDs offer even higher capacity, but you are still dealing with all the restrictions (and annoyances) of optical media.

USB flash drives are so much better (The advantages of USB Flash Drive). Today, they offer respectable capacities. USB 2.0 makes them pretty fast. The BIOS of many motherboards even has the capability of booting from a USB drive. They are more dependable then optical media because they cannot be scratched. They are more dependable than even hard drives because they have no moving parts. So, there are a lot of possibilities for these little sticks.

Below, I will go over the most useful uses for your USB flash drive.

  • Personal data transport
  • Secure storage of data, application and software files
  • System administration
  • Application carriers
  • Computer forensics and law enforcement
  • Booting operating systems
  • Windows Vista and Windows 7 ReadyBoost
  • Audio players
  • Music storage and marketing
  • In arcades
  • Brand and product promotion
  • Backup
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The advantages of USB Flash Drive

USB Flash DriveA USB flash drive is a NAND type flash memory. The NAND type flash memory was designed for the exchange and saving of data as alternative to the magnetic disk. The NAND type flash memory has the capacity to hold large volumes of data. The writing and erasing speed is also fast. The USB drive can be easily inserted into the USB port of the computer. With the help of USB flash drive, data can be safely and easily transferred. The USB drive is more reliable and safer than the floppy disks. The USB drives are small and compact.

A USB flash drive is a NAND type flash memory. The NAND type flash memory was designed for the exchange and saving of data as alternative to the magnetic disk. The NAND type flash memory has the capacity to hold large volumes of data. The writing and erasing speed is also fast. On the other hand the random access is rather slow because it uses block as a unit for the purpose of writing and reading.

The USB drive is made up of secure case small circuit board and is integrated with a universal serial bus connector. The secure case is typically made up of rubber or metal. This secure case protects the circuit board of the USB drive from damage and increases the robustness. The USB drives are very much smaller than the floppy disks and are rewritable.

The USB drive can be easily inserted into the USB port of the computer. With the help of USB flash drive, data can be safely and easily transferred. The USB drive is more reliable and safer than the floppy disks. The USB drives are small and compact, therefore the users can carry them easily in their pockets or they can attach it with their key chains as well.

The USB drives are more reliable when huge amounts of data has to be moved. Some of the USB drives allow 1 million erase or write cycles. The USB Memory card readers have a removable flash memory card. The USB flash drives provide more benefits to its users than the other storage devices. Almost all the computers and laptops have the USB ports, therefore the users can easily transfer the data. Most of the modern operating systems have the USB mass storage standard which is required by the USB flash drives to operate.

The USB 2.0 are much faster than the optical disk in terms of the data storage in much smaller space. The name “drive” is given to the USB flash drive because the USB flash appears to the OS of the computer like a mechanical drive and the method of access is also the same.

The USB connector must be protected and kept safe using a removable cap or by retracting the USB connector into the body of the USB flash drive. The USB flash drives use all the power supply from the host connection. Some high speed USB drives may require more power supply than provided by the bus powered USB hub. Therefore these drives will function when they are directly plugged into the self powered hub or the host controller.

The USB drives are most often composed of three components, the male connector type A, crystal oscillator and the USB mass storage controller. The function of the type A connector is to interface with the system of the host computer. While on the other hand the USB mass storage controller helps in balancing and storage of the data. The USB mass storage controller enhances and carries out smooth processing of the decoding, encryption and transfer of the data between the systems. The function of the crystal oscillator is to make sure that the output of the flash drive is of the best quality.

The reason that the USB drives became more popular is that the floppy drives were most of the time failed to read the data from the floppy disk. Therefore, the users had problems while transferring the data using the floppy disks. The USB flash drives do not have movable parts like the floppy disks had.

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What Are the Risks of Using Portable Storage?

As far as reliability goes, USB flash drives are very durable. They are “hot-swappable” (that is, removable without shutting down the computer) and “solid-state” (that is, no moving parts). They’re great for transferring data between computers. A British television program (“The Gadget Show”) decided to put flash drives to the test. They ran over them with a car, blasted them out of cannon, and baked them in a soufflé at 400° F! What was the result? The flash drives shot out the cannon suffered because they were broken into little pieces; the rest worked just fine and retained their data.

For the majority of USB flash drive users, their drives will never go through that type of punishment. It seems that the biggest risk in using these devices is simply losing them! They are so small and compact that it would be easy to misplace a USB flash drive. Most of them come with neck strap or keychain clip that allow them to be with you constantly.

Most industry sites define flash drives as a compact storage and transporting device whereas most dictionaries define flash memory as a computer chip with a read-only memory that can be electronically erased and reprogrammed without being removed from the circuit board. By definition, using a flash drive as an active storage area could pose a risk. For instance, one user used a flash drive like a second document folder. The user was creating and editing documents on the device with their word processor re-saving active documents every five minutes. This constant writing wore out the flash memory. Just like EEPROM chips, flash devices have a lifespan (this depends on the number of write cycles, check with the manufacturer find out the expectancy rates of your particular model), however, there is no limit to the number of times data can be read.

Security is the final risk. A common use for a flash drive is to transfer files from work to home. If the flash drive was lost or stolen during the transport, proprietary company information would be compromised. In fact, most small to large companies have strict policies of what types of information can leave the premises. This highlights the importance of data encryption.

There are a number of software encryption products that will maintain data security even if the flash device falls into the wrong hands. In fact, most USB flash drives come with some sort of free encryption software; however the free software may not meet your data protection requirements. If you use your flash drive for your company’s information or for your own personal information, be sure to purchase quality encryption software. The manufacturer of the flash device should have a recommendation of software on their Web site.

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