KNOWLEDGE - USB FLASH DRIVE
WHAT IS USB FLASH DRIVE ?
USB is an abbreviation derived from Universal Serial Bus. (USB) flash drive is a small, portable device that plugs into a computer’s USB port. Like a hard disk, a USB flash drive stores information such as photos, documents, presentation video, system generated report and etc. USB flash drive is handy and portable that enable us to easily transfer information from one computer to another. USB flash drives comes in various OEM design and shapes as well as customized design required by customers. USB flash drives can hold gigabytes of information depending on the memory chip-set capacity built-in. Most of the memory capacities available in the market are ranging from 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. USB flash drives are also commonly known as pen drives, key chain drives, key drives, and memory stick, thumb drive and etc.
USB is a widely used hardware interface for attaching peripherals to a computer. There are at least two USB ports on laptops and four on desktop computers, while USB “hubs” provide more connections. After appearing in 1997, USB became the standard for connecting keyboards, mouse, printers and hard drives, eventually replacing the PC’s serial and parallel ports and the Apple Desktop Bus on Macs.
WHO IS THE FOUNDER OF USB FLASH DRIVE ?
USB flash drives were invented by Amir Ban, Dov Moran and Oron Ogdan, all of the Israeli company M-Systems, who filed US patent in April 1999.
Pua Khein-Seng from Malaysia claims to have incorporated the world’s first single chip USB flash controller. He is currently the CEO of Phison Electronics Corp, which is based in Taiwan.
Source From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WHAT IS NAND FLASH?
1. A USB flash drive (also known as pen drive) is a NAND type flash memory. NAND type flash memory was designed for the exchange and storing of data as an replacement or substitution to conventional magnetic disks.
NAND type flash memory has the capacity to store large volumes of data with fast writing and erasing speed. On the other hand, random access is rather slow because it uses block as a unit for the purpose of writing and reading.
2. A USB flash drive is made up of a secure case with a small circuit board and is integrated with a universal serial bus (USB) connector. The secure case is typically made up of plastic, rubber/soft PVC, crystal, aluminium or metal. This secure case protects the circuit board of the USB drive from external damage. USB drives are very much smaller and handy than floppy disks and are re writable.
3. A USB flash drive can be easily inserted into the USB port of a computer. With the help of USB flash drive, data can be safely and easily transferred. A USB flash drive is more reliable and safer than a floppy disk. USB flash drives are small and compact, so users can carry them easily in their pockets or they can attached it with their key chains as well.
USB flash drives are more reliable when huge amounts of data have to be moved. Some USB flash drives allow 1 million erase or write cycles. The USB Memory card readers have a removable flash memory card. USB flash drives provide more benefits to users than other storage devices. Almost all computers and laptops have USB ports, so users can easily transfer data. Most modern operating systems include USB mass storage standard device drivers which are required by USB flash drives to operate.
USB FLASH DRIVE MILESTONES
Year 2000
Trek Technology and IBM began selling the first USB flash drives commercially in 2000 and sold a model under the brand name “ThumbDrive”, and IBM marketed the first such drives in North America with its product named the “DiskOnKey”, which was developed and manufactured by M-Systems.
Year 2003
By 2003, most USB flash drives had USB 2.0 connectivity, which has 480 Mbit/s as the transfer rate upper bound; after accounting for the protocol overhead that translates to a 35 MB/s effective throughput. That is considerably slower than what a hard disk drive or solid-state drive can achieve when connected via the SATA interface.
Year 2008
Like USB 2.0 before it, USB 3.0 dramatically improved data transfer rates compared to its predecessor. It was announced in late 2008, but consumer devices were not available until the beginning of 2010. The USB 3.0 interface specifies transfer rates up to 5 Gbit/s (625 MB/s), compared to USB 2.0’s 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s).
Year 2014
All USB 3.0 devices are backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports. As of April 2014, computers with USB 3.0 ports are common; most newer laptops and desktops have at least one such port. USB 3.0 port expansion cards are available to upgrade older systems, and many newer motherboards feature two or more USB 3.0 ports available through PCB headers.
Year 2015
As of March 2015, some manufacturers have announced USB 3.1 type-C flash drives with read/write speeds of around 530 MB/s.
Source From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
