Revision as of 11:44, 20 September 2011

By Ben Lee

First produced by IBM in 2000 storing 8MB,^[1] flash drives provided a durable, high capacity alternative to floppy disks and compact discs. Over the years the flash drive has evolved, offering a capacity of over one quarter of a terabyte and faster transfer rates.^[2]

Overview

Created by Don Moran in 1998, the flash drive is merely a memory chip and a USB plug making it a small reusable storage device.^[3] Its memory capacity has grown exponentially since its creation and is now a cheap storage alternative to CDs and floppy discs. Recently flash drives have been used in the same way as DVDs: as a movie storage device. Flash drives can also be decoratively covered to look like almost anything, making them aesthetically pleasing.

Significance

Flash drives offer a significantly larger storage capacity than either CDs of floppy disks. Also, even though it can hold more than CDs, flash drives can transfer files faster than CDs can burn or rip them. Overall, flash drives store more and are faster than previous methods of removable storage, and they allows their users to put all their files on one extremely durable flash drive instead of on multiple scratchable and breakable disks.

References

1. ↑ http://www.supermediastore.com/article/u/usb-flash-drive-memory-jump-drive-history-of-usb-flash-drives
2. ↑ http://www.pcworld.com/article/168802/worlds_biggest_flash_drive_comes_at_a_price.html
3. ↑ http://www.funntech.com/inventions/who-invented-the-usb-flash-drive

External Links

• File:Http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/airplane-usb-drive 1.jpg