The flash drive was first invented in 1998 by Dov Moran, and goes by many different names, most common are Thumbdrive, USB drive, Jump Drive, USB flash drive or simply UFD.  The first flash drives were made by M-Systems and distributed in Europe under the "disgo" brand in sizes of 8 MB, 16 MB, 32 MB, and 64 MB

 

Some of the most common uses are, personal data transport, computer repair, system administration, application carriers, audio players and boot devices. Flash storage devices are best compared to other common, portable, swappable data storage devices: floppy disks, Zip disks, miniCD / miniDVD, CD-R/CD-RW and DVD-RW discs.

 

Flash drives are nearly impervious to the scratches and dust that were problematic for previous forms of portable storage, such as compact discs and floppy disks, and their durable solid-state design means they often survive casual abuse, I have actually washed mine more then once. This makes them ideal for transporting personal data or work files from one location to another, such as from home to school or office or for carrying around personal data that the user typically wants to access in a variety of places. The near-ubiquity of USB support on modern computers means that such a drive will work in most places. A drawback to the small size is that they are easy to misplace, leave behind, dump in the washer or otherwise lose.

 

Some flash drives feature encryption of the data stored on them, generally using full disk encryption below the filesystem. This prevents an unauthorized person from accessing the data stored on it. The disadvantage is that the drive is accessible only in the minority of computers which have compatible encryption software, for which no portable standard is widely deployed.

 

We offer four different sizes in the store, 256MB for $14.95, 512MB for $23.95, 1GB for $34.95 and 2GB for $49.95.  Stop on by and pick one up for yourself, loved one or friend.  Be sure to mention this blog to get a free pen!

 

~Todd