General Information About Memory Chips That Can Help In Easily Upgrading Your System

One the most widely used inventions of the past 20 years are the ubiquitous USB Flash Memory sticks. Variously known as Jump Drives, Thumb Drives, Memory Sticks, and many other names, these portable memory devices are to be found everywhere.

1. The most common use is with PC's and Laptops for storing and transferring files, and they are not only to be found in the Computer Science or Engineering departments. There are probably very few college students today, regardless of their major, that do not own at least one such device.

2. Memory cards using the same technology are also widely used in digital cameras. The large capacity is what allows hundreds of pictures to be stored before it is necessary to download the images and clear the memory.

Flash memory chip shortage seen

3. Another very popular use for USB drives is as a give-away at trade shows. Promotional flash drives are a welcome and useful item, and much more functional than an emblazoned key chain or desk calendar.

4. This product has seen an explosion in capacity and a great reduction in price in recent years. When they were first introduced in the late 1980's flash drives could only store a few megabytes of data, and that data came with a respectable price tag. It is now quite common to find devices with 16 gigabytes of memory for under $80.

5. It is a key component of the popular MP3 players, as well as cellular phones, ATM's, and just about any device that uses upgradeable software, known as firmware.

Look for there to be more uses for this type of memory in the near future. As the reliability increases and cost decreases, they may replace hard drives in some applications.