The New York-based Human Rights Foundation collaborated with Forum 280 and USB Memory Direct to launch the "Flash Drives for Freedom" program.[80][81] The program was created in 2016 to smuggle flash drives with American and South Korean movies and television shows, as well as a copy of the Korean Wikipedia, into North Korea to spread pro-Western sentiment.[82][83]
Counterfeit USB flash drives are sometimes sold with claims of having higher capacities than they actually have. These are typically low capacity USB drives which are modified so that they emulate larger capacity drives (for example, a 2 GB drive being marketed as a 64 GB drive). When plugged into a computer, they report themselves as being the larger capacity they were sold as, but when data is written to them, either the write fails, the drive freezes up, or it overwrites existing data. Software tools exist to check and detect fake USB drives,[43][44] and in some cases it is possible to repair these devices to remove the false capacity information and use its real storage limit.[45]

A drawback to the small size of flash drives is that they are easily misplaced or otherwise lost. This is a particular problem if they contain sensitive data (see data security). As a consequence, some manufacturers have added encryption hardware to their drives, although software encryption systems which can be used in conjunction with any mass storage medium will achieve the same result. Most drives can be attached to keychains or lanyards. The USB plug is usually retractable or fitted with a removable protective cap.

A flash drive consists of a small printed circuit board carrying the circuit elements and a USB connector, insulated electrically and protected inside a plastic, metal, or rubberized case, which can be carried in a pocket or on a key chain, for example. The USB connector may be protected by a removable cap or by retracting into the body of the drive, although it is not likely to be damaged if unprotected. Most flash drives use a standard type-A USB connection allowing connection with a port on a personal computer, but drives for other interfaces also exist. USB flash drives draw power from the computer via the USB connection. Some devices combine the functionality of a portable media player with USB flash storage; they require a battery only when used to play music on the go.
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 New York-based Human Rights Foundation collaborated with Forum 280 and USB Memory Direct to launch the "Flash Drives for Freedom" program.[80][81] The program was created in 2016 to smuggle flash drives with American and South Korean movies and television shows, as well as a copy of the Korean Wikipedia, into North Korea to spread pro-Western sentiment.[82][83]
Lexar is attempting to introduce a USB FlashCard, which would be a compact USB flash drive intended to replace various kinds of flash memory cards. Pretec introduced a similar card, which also plugs into any USB port, but is just one quarter the thickness of the Lexar model.[85] Until 2008, SanDisk manufactured a product called SD Plus, which was a SecureDigital card with a USB connector.[86]

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.

Custom flash drives are practical giveaway items you can personalize with a logo or company name to help promote your brand. In the age of information and data storage, thumb drives are a hands-on approach to transferring data when a “cloud” isn’t readily available. Browse our catalog and select form a variety of styles that include plastic, leather, metal and novelty designs to truly impress your audience. Compact and easy to transport, our wholesale USB flash drives can be custom printed, or laser engraved to fit your portable storage needs. Combine a with a custom lanyards for the perfect trade show giveaway - enjoy Guaranteed Low Prices and Free Shipping!
Motherboard firmware (including BIOS and UEFI) can be updated using USB flash drives. Usually, new firmware image is downloaded and placed onto a FAT16- or FAT32-formatted USB flash drive connected to a system which is to be updated, and path to the new firmware image is selected within the update component of system's firmware.[49] Some motherboard manufacturers are also allowing such updates to be performed without the need for entering system's firmware update component, making it possible to easily recover systems with corrupted firmware.[50]

“The transfer speeds are satisfyingly fast for reading and writing all kinds of files, whether large HD videos or unsorted media folders,” our tester reported of this flash drive. He also liked the inclusion of the SecureAccess file encryption, although advanced features are an additional purchase. In terms of negatives, our reviewer called the plastic shell casing “flimsy and fragile” and observed that the transfer speeds are capped when the flash drive is plugged into a USB hub. Overall? Our tester was “more than satisfied with the transfer speeds, but would have appreciated a better, sturdier physical design.”

We are specialists, when it comes to producing a custom flash drives to your specifications. Personalized USB drives are great for promotion of your favorite team, non for profit organization, or business. Important marketing information can be loaded on flash drives. You can imprint USB drives with logos for your school, or use it as a gift to employees, or guests at the wedding.

Unlike solid-state memory, hard drives are susceptible to damage by shock (e.g., a short fall) and vibration, have limitations on use at high altitude, and although they are shielded by their casings, they are vulnerable when exposed to strong magnetic fields. In terms of overall mass, hard drives are usually larger and heavier than flash drives; however, hard disks sometimes weigh less per unit of storage. Like flash drives, hard disks also suffer from file fragmentation, which can reduce access speed.

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Lexar is attempting to introduce a USB FlashCard, which would be a compact USB flash drive intended to replace various kinds of flash memory cards. Pretec introduced a similar card, which also plugs into any USB port, but is just one quarter the thickness of the Lexar model.[85] Until 2008, SanDisk manufactured a product called SD Plus, which was a SecureDigital card with a USB connector.[86]
When used in the same manner as external rotating drives (hard drives, optical drives, or floppy drives), i.e. in ignorance of their technology, USB drives' failure is more likely to be sudden: while rotating drives can fail instantaneously, they more frequently give some indication (noises, slowness) that they are about to fail, often with enough advance warning that data can be removed before total failure. USB drives give little or no advance warning of failure. Furthermore, when internal wear-leveling is applied to prolong life of the flash drive, once failure of even part of the memory occurs it can be difficult or impossible to use the remainder of the drive, which differs from magnetic media, where bad sectors can be marked permanently not to be used.[74]
Floppy disk hardware emulators exist which effectively utilize the internal connections and physical attributes of a floppy disk drive to utilize a device where a USB flash drive emulates the storage space of a floppy disk in a solid state form, and can be divided into a number of individual virtual floppy disk images using individual data channels.
USB 2.0 flash drives have a transfer rate of up to 480Mbps, while USB 3.0 flash drives allow for transfer rates 10 times faster — up to 4.8Gbps. However, you can only take advantage of this higher speed if your device has a USB 3.0 port. Although USB 3.0 flash drives and other devices are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports, they will only operate at a USB 2.0 rate.