Photojournalism

PRE-320/JRN-320 – Dr. Anthony Curtis

About USB Flash Drives

USB flash drives, sometimes referred to as jump drives or keychain drives, are small portable plug-and-play computer-memory storage devices.

∑ They do not record data magnetically so they can't be damaged by magnets or magnetic fields as floppy disks can be.

∑ They are solid-state electronic devices so they are much more rugged than a floppy disk.

∑ They do not need drivers or installers.

∑ They are hot swappable. Plug them in and out without shutting down.

∑ They work on both Mac and Windows computers, or any USB device, regardless of manufacturer.

USB flash drives can hold more data than hundreds of floppies, several ZIP disks, or even CD-ROMs.

They range in capacity, or size, from as little as 64 MB up to 4 or more gigabytes. USB flash drives are priced by size.

They can be used to transport large presentations with lots of graphics, video and audio.

USB flash drives plug directly into the USB port of a desktop or laptop computer, smart phone, PDA, game player, MP3 player or other device.

USB flash drives make it possible to leave the computer or PDA at home, yet still carry along digital files – e-mail, word documents, photos, calendars, videos, music – to plug in wherever you find a computer.

Data can be saved securely on a USB flash drive. High levels of security such as triple DES encryption may cost no more than the far-less-effective secure digital.