The digital age has improved a lot of the methods we operate and share data. Gone are the days when we had to bring bulky stacks of paper for presentations or reports. With the use of these thumb drives, we are able to share details and data in real-time without panicking about remembering to bring essential documents. Here, we will give you a brief explanation, and help you in understanding everything that you need to know about thumb drives.
This revolutionary piece of technology is truly a game-changer that we all need in our lives, even without us knowing it. So, read further if you want to know more about these handy storage devices.
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What You Have to Know About Thumb Drives
Before you go to wherever they sell a thumb drive in your location, you have to know more about thumb drives. A thumb drive is also known as a USB flash drive, pen drive, jump drive or a USB memory stick. You might have heard these names before.
They enable you to save and read data stored in them and are coined as “thumb drives” for literally being the same size as your thumb. It doesn’t matter which name you know it by, but they still have the same theme, which is to be connected to your computers through the USB port.
How Does it Work?
The information is stored inside a memory stick which we can categorize into two types as non-volatile, and volatile. Volatile memory is a short term, and your computer’s hard disk drivers writes-reads the data, which would need a source of power for it to continually function. If there is no power source, you wouldn’t be able to have any access to that certain information.
On the other hand, a thumb drive works by using non-volatile memory, which means it will be able to retain the information saved on it even if there is no allocated power source. When you want to recover a certain document or file, you just have to plug it in your computer via the USB ports, and a form of an electronic signal from the integrated circuit memory of your thumb drive will be automatically sent.
Important Things to Consider When Buying a Thumb Drive
Before you buy that certain thumb drive, you have to consider these things first.
Transfer Speed
Some of the innovations in thumb drives include various speeds when transferring data from one computer to another. Some varieties of thumb drives have USB 3.0 connectivity and have a transfer speed of 640 MB per second, whereas thumb drives with USB 2.0 connectivity will transfer data at a rate of 60 MB per second. No matter what brand of thumb drive you’re planning to buy, it is always important to know their transfer speeds.
Storage Capacity
Another thing that you have to consider when buying a thumb drive is, of course, the capacity that it is able to handle. We know that data stored in your computers are called bytes, and 1 byte is equivalent to 8 bits. Similarly, 100k bytes is equal to 1MB, and 1000MB is equal to 1G, and so on and so forth.
Compatibility
The latest features make these storage devices one of the best ways of storing data, however, you have to be certain that when you plan on purchasing one, you have to keep in mind that it will be supported and is compatible with your computer.
Since you will be using it frequently, it is good to steer clear from this type of mistake. Older computers wouldn’t have any USB 3.0 ports, which means that this type of thumb drive wouldn’t be able to work at its full potential.
Takeaway
There’s no doubt that thumb drives are very useful innovations in the world of technology. Whether you are still a student, a business professional, you would need to have a way to store all your files and documents that would be easy to carry around with you. So, make sure that you will put into mind the things that you have to consider before buying your very own thumb drive.
