Flash drives are also cost-effective. You can securely store a few dozen gigabytes of data for less than $30, and these devices range in storage capacity, price and overall size - equal to the amount you're willing to invest. Some even have special features like lanyards, locks, belt clips and key fobs to make them easier to carry and keep track of.
Flash drives implement the USB mass storage device class so that most modern operating systems can read and write to them without installing device drivers. The flash drives present a simple block-structured logical unit to the host operating system, hiding the individual complex implementation details of the various underlying flash memory devices. The operating system can use any file system or block addressing scheme. Some computers can boot up from flash drives.
I needed to switch over to Apple computer, phone and ipad because of software changes in my buisness. I was able to purchase a Macbook Air, Iphone 5se, and Ipad Air. These items were either open box or refurbished with a A rating. Fabulous Prices, all worked and looked new. I am a faithful user of a popular on line store that deals in the same items, however I can not get these kind of deals especially at these condition and prices.

Flash drives implement the USB mass storage device class so that most modern operating systems can read and write to them without installing device drivers. The flash drives present a simple block-structured logical unit to the host operating system, hiding the individual complex implementation details of the various underlying flash memory devices. The operating system can use any file system or block addressing scheme. Some computers can boot up from flash drives.
Flash memory combines a number of older technologies, with lower cost, lower power consumption and small size made possible by advances in microprocessor technology. The memory storage was based on earlier EPROM and EEPROM technologies. These had limited capacity, were slow for both reading and writing, required complex high-voltage drive circuitry, and could be re-written only after erasing the entire contents of the chip.
The various writable and re-writable forms of CD and DVD are portable storage media supported by the vast majority of computers as of 2008. CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R can be written to only once, RW varieties up to about 1,000 erase/write cycles, while modern NAND-based flash drives often last for 500,000 or more erase/write cycles. DVD-RAM discs are the most suitable optical discs for data storage involving much rewriting.

A USB flash drive[note 1] is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than 30 g (1 oz). Since first appearing on the market in late 2000, as with virtually all other computer memory devices, storage capacities have risen while prices have dropped. As of March 2016, flash drives with anywhere from 8 to 256 GB were frequently sold, while 512 GB and 1 TB units were less frequent.[2][3] As of 2018, 2 TB flash drives were the largest available in terms of storage capacity.[4] Some allow up to 100,000 write/erase cycles, depending on the exact type of memory chip used, and are thought to last between 10 and 100 years under normal circumstances (shelf storage time[5]).
On the more practical side our flash drives, also called thumbdrives or memory sticks are available in memory capacities from 64MB to 256GB. With memory capacities like that, we certainly have the options to cover whatever your data storage requirements may be. For more information on data storage capacities, check out our USB Flash Drive Capacity Guide.

“The DataTraveler's tiny metal frame and prominent key ring make it easily portable,” our tester said of this flash drive. He added, “Downloading files off the drive itself is fast and easy, at over 100 MB/s, and it's also one of the cheapest USB 3.0 flash drives you can get.” The downside? “While read speeds were fine, the DataTraveler struggles to actually copy files onto the drive,” our reviewer explained. “Despite supporting USB 3.0, it barely tops write speeds of 10 MB/s, and lacks any other features.” The takeaway: “We'd only recommend this product as a cheap way for business professionals to pass out digital content to clients, or for networking,” he stated.
Also, HP has introduced a USB floppy drive key, which is an ordinary USB flash drive with additional possilibility for performing floppy drive emulation, allowing its usage for updating system firmware where direct usage of USB flash drives is not supported. Desired mode of operation (either regular USB mass storage device or of floppy drive emulation) is made selectable by a sliding switch on the device's housing.[51][52]
Flash drives can be defragmented. There is a widespread opinion that defragmenting brings little advantage (as there is no mechanical head that moves from fragment to fragment), and that defragmenting shortens the life of the drive by making many unnecessary writes.[37] However, some sources claim[38] that defragmenting a flash drive can improve performance (mostly due to improved caching of the clustered data), and the additional wear on flash drives may not be significant.
The SanDisk PRO gives you blistering speeds, offering 420 MB/s on the reading front and 380 MB/s on the writing end, which is 3–4x faster than what a standard USB 3.0 drive will offer. The sleek, aluminum casing is both super durable and very eye-catching, so you can bring it with you to your business meetings and look professional as well. The onboard AES, 128-bit file encryption gives you top-of-the-line security for your sensitive files. That USB 3.0 connection is also backward compatible with USB 2.0, so you won’t hit any snags with an older computer. SanDisk is so confident in the functionality of this little drive, that they’ve even backed it with a full lifetime warranty in case any issues befall it. Finally, there’s a file backup system you can download called RescuePRO that will let you recover lost files if needed.
Also, HP has introduced a USB floppy drive key, which is an ordinary USB flash drive with additional possilibility for performing floppy drive emulation, allowing its usage for updating system firmware where direct usage of USB flash drives is not supported. Desired mode of operation (either regular USB mass storage device or of floppy drive emulation) is made selectable by a sliding switch on the device's housing.[51][52]

USB Memory Direct® specializes in producing customized usb flash drives for marketing and promotions and has been a leader in the industry for over fourteen years. Whether you are looking for unique custom shaped flash drives or our best selling custom printed usb drives, you will find our customer service, product quality and pricing are second to none.


With their paper-slim profiles, Ultrabooks and tablets are barely thick enough for a USB port. That's why some of the bulkier drives on this list are not ideal for those devices. Meanwhile, Samsung’s Fit drives are slim and compact, about the size of your thumb nail. This unobtrusive storage is constructed with a metal casing that is resistant to the elements and NAND flash technology. With USB 3.0 tech you can expect fast read speeds, while the price is easy to stomach. Just make sure to attach it to a lanyard, so you don't lose it.

Most flash drives ship preformatted with the FAT32, or exFAT file systems. The ubiquity of the FAT32 file system allows the drive to be accessed on virtually any host device with USB support. Also, standard FAT maintenance utilities (e.g., ScanDisk) can be used to repair or retrieve corrupted data. However, because a flash drive appears as a USB-connected hard drive to the host system, the drive can be reformatted to any file system supported by the host operating system.
Most USB flash drives weigh less than 30 g (1 oz).[31] While some manufacturers are competing for the smallest size[32] with the biggest memory,[33] some manufacturers differentiate their products by using elaborate housings, which are often bulky and make the drive difficult to connect to the USB port. Because the USB port connectors on a computer housing are often closely spaced, plugging a flash drive into a USB port may block an adjacent port. Such devices may carry the USB logo only if sold with a separate extension cable. Such cables are USB-compatible but do not conform to the USB standard.[34][35]

Universal Disk Format (UDF) version 1.50 and above has facilities to support rewritable discs like sparing tables and virtual allocation tables, spreading usage over the entire surface of a disc and maximising life, but many older operating systems do not support this format. Packet-writing utilities such as DirectCD and InCD are available but produce discs that are not universally readable (although based on the UDF standard). The Mount Rainier standard addresses this shortcoming in CD-RW media by running the older file systems on top of it and performing defect management for those standards, but it requires support from both the CD/DVD burner and the operating system. Many drives made today do not support Mount Rainier, and many older operating systems such as Windows XP and below, and Linux kernels older than 2.6.2, do not support it (later versions do). Essentially CDs/DVDs are a good way to record a great deal of information cheaply and have the advantage of being readable by most standalone players, but they are poor at making ongoing small changes to a large collection of information. Flash drives' ability to do this is their major advantage over optical media.

Flash drives are also cost-effective. You can securely store a few dozen gigabytes of data for less than $30, and these devices range in storage capacity, price and overall size - equal to the amount you're willing to invest. Some even have special features like lanyards, locks, belt clips and key fobs to make them easier to carry and keep track of.

×