USB Storage Device

The other day I happened to pay a visit to my college's computer laboratory and was surprised by the sight in front me. There was a whole bunch of computers with each one having a strange-looking device connected to it. The one to my immediate left had a miniature Porsche Carrera jutting out of it, the one alongside seemed to be under threat from James Bond's Walther PPK, whereas there were a couple of other computers which were connected to what could only be described as Santa Claus' belly and a donkey's derriere.

Before I could roll my eyes at the thought of what the world of computers was turning into, I heard someone yell, "Hey, who stuck my ass into this computer? I need to transfer some music into it!" I almost fainted. Only when I turned and actually saw what he did next, did I heave what was probably the biggest sigh of my life. It turned out that the donkey (not to mention the Porsche, the Walther PPK and the Santa) was nothing but a fancy-looking USB device. And the guy in question was just a normal human being, whose only intention was to transfer a few songs from one computer to another, using his donkey-shaped USB storage device. For those of you who have no idea of what a USB is, read on. (And don't be scared of doing so, they are available in non-controversial shapes as well!)

What Are USB Storage Devices?
Let me begin with the term USB. USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. It is a type of removable storage media which is portable and is so small that it can be carried around in your pocket. Also known as USB flash drives or pen drives, these devices have created a revolution as far as data storage and portable data transfer is concerned.

How to Transfer Data to Them?
All you need to do is simply plug a USB flash drive into the USB port of your computer. It does not need any external battery or power source and gets switched on automatically. You can then copy all the data that you need to transfer onto the flash drive, in pretty much the same way that you would normally copy data from one folder to another. Once you're done with the data transfer, you simply need to click on the respective taskbar icon which subsequently shuts off the flash drive. That's it. You're done!

What is their Application?
Today, there exist numerous application areas for these portable storage devices. Almost all of our modern-day gadgets make use of this technology in some way or the other. For example, digital camera memory cards, iPods, MP3 players, mobile phone memory cards, PDA's, external hard drives, etc., are devices that are either USB storage devices by themselves, or are devices whose functioning is wholly dependent upon USB storage devices. When USB flash drives first appeared in the market, their storage capacities were in the range of 128MB to 512MB. Today, their minimum storage capacity happens to be 2GB whereas the maximum can be anything between 8GB or even 16GB. Portable external USB hard drives have storage capacities ranging from 40GB to a whopping 2,000GB! Can you believe that? A small pocket-sized device being able to hold that kind of data!

What are their Advantages?
Here is why these devices are so popular:

• Massive storage capacity
• Space saving pocket-sized devices
• Platform independent (you can use the same device on different operating systems and computers)
• Good option for data backup
• Extremely cheap and offering total value-for-money

What are their Drawbacks?
Despite creating a revolution in the field of data transfer and storage, these devices do have certain drawbacks.

• They can be easily hidden or concealed. Therefore, they do pose a security threat in case of confidential data
• They can act as virus carriers

Despite the above drawbacks of these devices, one simply cannot ignore the fact that these devices are a necessity in today's world. USB devices have arrived and are here to stay.