What Is a Flash Drive for a Computer?

Flash drives are also called USB drives or portable drives. They are small, portable hard drives that connect to computers through a USB drive.

Significance

Flash drives are portable hard drives that connect through a USB., allowing someone to copy files onto the device and easily walk the data to another computer or keep as a back up.

Size

The physical size of these devices is about one to four inches long, but the storage capacity can vary greatly. This allows for entire hard drives to be backed up and carried on a keychain.

History

In 2000, IBM and Trek Technology began selling the first portable flash drives, but these only had a capacity of 8 MB. As of 2009, some flash drives are capable of 128 GB of data storage.

Considerations

The size of data storage varies depending on the price. However, technology is always moving forward and, as flash drives become capable of storing more and more data, they also will become cheaper.

Warning

Flash drives, like normal hard drives, are vulnerable to extreme temperatures, magnets and physical damage. Proper precautions should be taken to prevent damage from occurring.