The USB, Universal Serial Bus, Flash Drive was introduced as an alternative to floppy disks with the advantage of being more reliable, more durable, much faster and with much larger storage capacity. Today the USB Flash Drives have completely replaced the aging floppy disks. Since they are mostly used to store and transfer digital files between computers the USB Flash Drives are seen as a complement to memory cards. Facts like size and lack of USB interface on small portable devices contribute also to the fact of not being a competitive storage format to memory cards.
Considering that every new desktop computer, laptop computer and printer has at least one USB interface the USB Flash Drive standard is the most compatible flash memory device for transferring digital files to and from a computer.
Since USB Flash Drives do not have a standardized form factor they can be found in many different sizes and designs, but in general they are no bigger than a lighter or a pack of gum. The same applies for the USB Flash Drive as a name, since it is not a standardized trademark it can be fund under many names. Such as Jump Drive, Pocket Drive and Pen Drive, still the USB Flash Drive name is the most common used when referring to USB based flash memory devices.
USB Flash Drives can be found with two different data transfer speeds. The USB 1.1 standard has a transfer speed of 1.5 MB/sec or 8 X and the USB 2.0 has a transfer speed of 60 MB/sec or 400 X. The speed of the USB 2.0 is the fastest in the memory card industry.
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Slightly smaller than actual size
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