Imagine being able to carry large amounts of data from your computer's
hard drive in your pocket. This data can be transferred and accessed with other
computers in one simple step. This is what the burgeoning field of flash drive
capability offers to users.
For both consumers and IT professionals the growth in the USB Flash Drive
product arena has given rise to a plethora of available flash drive products.
Even though the flash drive industry is still considered by some industry
analysts to be in its infancy, it is expanding quickly to meet the demand for
smaller, lightweight and removable data storage devices.
Features:
One of the most prominent benefits that flash drives offer is their
convenience and ease of use in enabling the storage of large amounts of data.
Some flash cards are as small as one thin stick of gum, and can be carried on a
keychain, in a wallet, or even in a front pocket. The demand for this type of
innovative and compressed form of storage will continue to push the boundaries
of the storage arena as users both in the form of consumers and professionals
increasingly demand a more expanded selection in removable data storage devices
for increased mobility and freedom.
There are several leading innovators in the flash drive arena, and
companies are continually pushing the envelope for flash drives and data storage
while compressing the size of the flash drive.
Flash drives let users load graphics, multimedia files, customer data,
music, text, spreadsheets and almost any other form of data one can imagine and
then take it wherever they might be going.
The difference in flash drives primarily lies in the pricing and
availability of features in the USB flash drive product. One of the keys to
determining which flash drive will best meet your needs is to define the primary
purpose for its use. Flash drives have not only evolved from the floppy disk,
but come with portability and quick access that floppies could not offer.
If you're in sales for instance and work with sales force automation
software data that you need to be able to download efficiently and expediently
in your hotel, Internet ready coffee shop or portable laptop, then your first
need in a flash drive will be one that can hold the largest amount of storage.
And keep in mind that the ubiquitous growth of flash drives and companies
producing them is also driving the cost down for the professional and
consumer-based users.
The key is to identify what your primary storage needs are. For IT
professionals looking for larger storage like 2GB the cost will be higher than
for example graphic professionals who need a smaller amount of storage like
128MB or 256MB for just storing digital pictures or images.
Another thing to keep at the forefront when choosing which flash drive
will work best for your needs is to look at the other features a flash drive
offers. Some will also work as voice recorders, and MP3 players, and offer
expanded functionality beyond just the storage capabilities.
Buyers also need to consider the operating platforms and compatibility
issues. The USB flash drives currently on the market offer compatibility for Mac
and Windows-based systems, but some will only operate best on the latest
versions of those platforms.
USB Flash drives also offer advantages over other forms of storage like
the DVD or CD-ROMS in that they are portable, the size of a small thin bookmark
or stick of gum and have a faster upload process for sharing data with different
computers. You can add or delete any data or files on the flash drives with ease
unlike DVD's and CD-ROMS.
Imagine the power of being able to transfer your sales force automation
data easily from your desk to a client's board room by just plugging your USB
Flash drive into a port.
There are also USB flash drives available for Linux operating system
users. In addition if you need a higher level on storing your data securely
using USB flash drives, there are vendors who specifically target meeting those
needs with their USB flash drive storage products.
These secure USB flash drives come with heightened functionality in
regard to securing data and give the user encryption and password features to
protect specific or all parts of the data stored on the flash drive device.
What's Available
As covered in the latter section there are strong vendors producing
excellent USB flash drive storage products. Below you'll find a good
cross-section of USB flash drives available for both the consumer and
professional user market.
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128 BioStik from Index Security -- offers a portable USB flash memory storage drive in
combination with added biometric fingerprint scanning technology.
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USB 2.0 Swivel Flash Drive from Imation -- This product comes available in storage capacities ranging from 128MB
to 2GB. It even comes with a supplied key chain and an all-in-one swivel cap
design to protect the drive.
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Jumpdrive Pro 80X from Lexar Media, USA -- offers large file storage capabilities and speedy
data transfer. It's also compatible with USB 2.
How
to Choose
When choosing which USB flash drive is going to best meet your needs,
there are many factors to consider. If you're purchasing flash drives for use
company-wide for instance to help with your sales force automation process, then
you will most likely need to choose a flash drive that is expedient, portable,
and will hold a large amount of both customer data and even a PowerPoint or
other graphic presentations inherent in your marketing collateral.
The key in choosing the right USB flash storage product lies in very
specifically defining its usage.
Here are some things to consider in determining your flash storage device
needs:
- Who will be using the card and what is its
primary use? If it is for professional use for instance in the graphics arena,
then the most important feature might be how much data storage a specific
flash drive can offer at the most economic price.
- Durability is another feature you'll have to
look at for long-term, especially if you're in the medical, legal, or customer
arena.
- What additional features does it offer? For
instance do you need to use your flash drive storage for multimedia files and
does it need to be able to playback, record and transfer digital photos,
videos, MP3 files.
- Password protection and encryption capability.
Does the flash drive offer you both a private and public access to data and
how secure is the flash drive? For businesses who depend on keeping customer
or client data secure and private this will be a primary concern.
- You will also want to look at the actual
design of the product. Flash drives come in all shapes and sizes but one of
the key benefits to using them is their portability and small size.
- How quickly does it transfer data and how much
memory does it hold?
Finally, keep in mind that the product needs to offer reliability and be
useful long-term if your data storage needs expand. The more data storage
offered in the USB Flash drives the more associated cost, but the cost continues
to lessen as more and more vendors push out new flash offerings.
