USB flash memory, simply referred to as Flash Drive, is a data medium considered as the successor to floppy disks. Flash memory is not erased when the power is removed from the host device, and often take the form of keychain attachments. As is evident from the title, they connect to computers via USB sockets. They were firstly produced on a commercial scale in 2000 by IBM and Trek Technology.
Continue
The first models had a capacity of 8 MB which was five times greater than the floppy disks which were still used at that time. Modern flash drives now have capacities ranging from 512 MB to tens or hundreds of GB (upper limit is constantly increasing) and support USB 2.0. They are made of different materials, including plastic, metal or rubber, and in addition to backing up data, they are compatible with other technologies such as ReadyBoost and U3.