File:Kingston_DataTraveler_flash_drive_disassembled.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
USB flash drive
Sign in to saveAlso known as memory stick, flash drive, USB memory stick, USB pen drive, pen drive, thumb drive, U drive, USB thumb drive
data storage device
A USB flash drive is a small, portable device that plugs into a computer to store and transfer files. It matters because it provides a convenient and reliable way to carry important documents, photos, or other data with you and share them between different computers.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- computer storage media
- Has part
- housing
- Country of origin
- United States
- Image
- 2023 Pendrive'y Verbatim Store ‘n’ Click 16 GB (1).jpg
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- Stack Exchange tag
- stackoverflow.com/tags/usb-flash-drive
- Commons category
- USB flash drives
- Commons gallery
- USB flash drive
- inception
- 1996-00-00
- complies with
- USB mass storage device class
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Encyclopedic overview
A SanDisk Cruzer USB drive from 2011, with 4 GB of storage capacity A SanDisk Ultra Flair USB drive from 2020, attached to an HP laptop Transcend JetFlash from 2014 SanDisk 1 TB USB-C flash drive (2020 model) next to a 50 cent euro coin
A USB flash drive (also known as a thumb drive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. A typical USB drive is removable, rewritable, and smaller than an optical disc, and usually weighs less than 30 g (1 oz). Since first offered for sale in late 2000, the storage capacities of USB drives have ranged from 8 megabytes to 1 terabyte (TB). As of 2024, 4 TB flash drives were the largest currently in production. Some allow up to 100,000 write/erase cycles, depending on the exact type of memory chip used, and are thought to physically last between 10 and 100 years under normal circumstances (shelf storage time).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “USB flash drive” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
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