Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Although modern flash-based SSDs are faster than standard hard drives, they are also
many times more expensive and often lower in maximum capacity. Is paying 10 times or
more per gigabyte worth the overall increase in read/write speeds? For some niche mar-
kets such as high-end laptops or boot drives for high-end desktops, the answer is yes.
However, for mainstream laptop and desktop system use, cost and capacity are far more
important. Of course, SSDs will certainly become more commonplace in the future, espe-
cially as the available capacity grows and the relative price per gigabyte falls in the years
to come.
USB Flash Drives
As an alternative to floppy and Zip/SuperDisk-class removable-media drives, USB-based
flash memory devices are rapidly becoming the preferred way to move data between sys-
tems. The first successful drive of this type—Trek's ThumbDrive—was introduced in
2000, and since then hundreds of others have been introduced.
Note
Some USB flash memory drives are even built into watches, pens, bottle openers and knives
(such as the Victorinox SwissMemory Swiss Army Knife).
Unlikeothertypesofflashmemory,USBflashdrivesdon'trequireaseparatecardreader;
they can be plugged into any USB port or hub. Although a driver is usually required
for older Windows 9x/Me, most USB flash drives can be read immediately by Windows
XP and later versions. As with other types of flash memory, USB flash drives are as-
signed a drive letter when connected to the computer. Most have capacities ranging from
16MB to 16GB. Typical read/write performance of USB 1.1-compatible drives is about
1MBps. Hi-Speed USB 2.0 flash drives are much faster, providing read speeds ranging
from 5MBps to 15MBps and write speeds ranging from 5MBps to 13MBps. Because Hi-
Speed USB flash drives vary in performance, be sure to check the specific read/write
speeds for the drives you are considering before you purchase one.
Tip
If you have a card reader or scanner plugged into a USB hub or port on your computer, you
might need to disconnect it before you can attach a USB flash drive. This is sometimes ne-
cessary because of conflicts between the drivers used by some devices. If you suspect this
type of problem, use the Windows Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray to stop
the card reader before you insert the USB flash drive. After the system has recognized the
USB flash drive, you should be able to reattach the card reader.
