These are tiny portable storage devices that are known by the other terms like 'memory stick'. USB drives such as these are created by a whole host of brands such as Mini Cruzer, Lexar and Memorex, to name but a few. Computers that are less than 8 years old, or those that have a USB port work with USB flash drive technology. Prices of these drives have gone down significantly now with some models of around 1GB of space costing under $100.

The most frequent use of USB flash drives is for transferring data from work to home computers, negating the old requirement to ferry a laptop to and fro.

Flash drives are not as new a technology as you may think. These drives started back in 1963 as a new concept, and beginning production in 1968 as integrated circuit chips known as 'Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor's' (CMOS). These chips soon became standard in the vast majority of electric devices available. CMOS chips managed a computers basic system settings, rather like the 'Basic Input/ Output System's' (BIOS) of today.

Flash memory is a type of non-volatile computer memory that is able to undergo electronic erasing and reprogramming. In opposition to 'Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory' (EEPROM), typical of general PC memory, this flash drive memory is able to be erased or programmed in various blocks made up of numerous locations.

These devices are highly durable, computers don't need to be shut down when they're removed, and there are no moving parts ('solid-state'). Due to their very small size, around the size of a lighter, the biggest problem encountered is that of simply misplacing it. Many come with attached cords from which you can hang them around your neck or attach them to things e.g. your wallet.

What is important to know is that these devices have a limited lifespan. Only a certain number of write cycles are possible, depending upon the manufacturer and/ or model. As such these drives should generally not be used as an extra document folder with documents being saved frequently, e.g. every 5 minutes, for long periods of time. High levels of re-writing i.e. saving data tend to rapidly wear out the flash drive's memory.

To stop people stealing your USB flash device and retrieving potentially important and/ or secret information getting USB flash drive stored information encrypted through a manufacturers recommended encryption service is a great idea.

With this kind of storage device data recovery is typically possible, especially if there is no physical damage. Recovery can be performed on your USB flash drive far from various recovery experts' offices simply by them accessing it through an internet connection in your PC.