USB flash drive, also known under a variety of other names,[a] is a data storage device that

includes flash memory with an integratedUSB interface. USB flash drives are typically removable
and rewritable, and physically much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than 30 grams
(1.1 oz).[1] As of January 2013, drives of up to 512 gigabytes (GB) were available.[2] A oneterabyte (TB) drive was unveiled at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show and became available
later that year.[3] Storage capacities as large as 2 TB are planned, with steady improvements in size
and price per capacity expected.[4] Some allow up to 100,000 write/erase cycles, depending on the
exact type of memory chip used, and have a 10-year shelf storage time.[5][6][7]
USB flash drives are often used for the same purposes for which floppy disks or CDs were once
used, i.e., for storage, data back-up and transfer of computer files. They are smaller, faster, have
thousands of times more capacity, and are more durable and reliable because they have no moving
parts. Additionally, they are immune to electromagnetic interference (unlike floppy disks), and are
unharmed by surface scratches (unlike CDs). Until about 2005, most desktop and laptop computers
were supplied with floppy disk drives in addition to USB ports, but floppy disk drives have become
obsolete after widespread adoption of USB ports and the larger USB drive capacity compared to the
1.44 MB 3.5-inch floppy disk.
USB flash drives use the USB mass storage device class standard, supported natively by
modern operating systems such as Windows, Linux, OS X and other Unix-like systems, as well as
many BIOS boot ROMs. USB drives with USB 2.0 support can store more data and transfer faster
than much larger optical disc drives like CD-RW or DVD-RW drives and can be read by many other
systems such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DVD players, automobile entertainment systems, and
in a number of handheld devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, though the
electronically similar SD card is better suited for those devices.