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USB Flash Drives "101"
With the recent jump in popularity of the ease with flash drives
in the market and they being required as a normal instructional
tool in InfoTech, this guide will hope to give you some insight.
Flash drives have many names, so don't be surprised to here them
be called differently by many people as we are creatures of
habit and call it what we see or hear them being called the
first time around. Some names to go by:
 | Flash memory drive |
| Portable drive |
| Thumb drive |
| Flash drive |
| Pocket drive |
| Pen drive |
| USB drive |
| Mini USB drive |
| USB stick |
| Memory stick |
| Key drive |
| Jump drive |
I would suggest some reading material from the experts
themselves at
USBflashdrives to get a better insight.
I cannot tell you how many times a broken flash drive comes my
way, it is sad to see a dead drive that contains your important
information and your hard earned money go bye-bye. With that a
few things that just might never make you one of these victims:
| ALWAYS insert a drive in the USB port of the
computer correctly. By correct I mean straight in....don't
wiggle it in or force it in, if it doesn't go in it's
backwards! |
| True, flash drives are plug-n-play in that you can just
plug them in and they work, and remove them when finished.
Well, there's the problem. You're NOT suppose to just remove
the drive when you finished. If you haven't noticed, when
you plugged in the drive (or any other USB device for the
matter) did you notice a little brown card with a green
arrow next to it - hint! |
This little guy manages any "USB mass storage devices",
and it also let's you correct eject it. You have to
understand that when the drive is connected to a
computer it is part of the computer. If it's plugged
it's being used, so your either running a file(s) from
it or saving work to it. Either way, if you just
disconnect the drive when you're done - any files not
finished transferring to the drive or any work that the
computer is doing to it is being stopped.....the drive
can stop working correctly. The correct way to EJECT
a flash drive it to locate this icon at the bottom right
side of Windows, take your mouse and click on it once
which a menu will appear in a balloon and say "Safely
remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive (?)". If the
drive can safely shut down, it will show this balloon
letting you know it is now okay to remove the drive
If the drive cannot be ejected, you will get a warning:
Try "ejecting" the drive until it ejects. Of course, nothing
works when you want it to right. The only other option is to
restart or shutdown the computer to force the computer to
release it OR just pull out the drive and take a chance. I
believe the point of the drive being convenient stops when
you have to do this BUT your drive will not go to the dark
side! A safely removed flash drive notice looks like this
| NEVER wiggle a drive when
removing...never...never...never. When it comes to dead
drives it is because of this. We tend to shove them in and
remove them without being careful. Unfortunately, flash
drives are very small and because this are very fragile at
the point where the USB port and little circuit is
'soldered' together. You have a %50/%50 chance of fixing
this if it happens. (I can do this for you!) |
| Flash drives were not designed for PERMANENT
storage, rather they are designed for transfer of files or
"holding" files or documents as they move from one computer
to the next. Always remember to backup your drive (did
you know that flash drives have a 'lifespan' that is that
they die after a certain amount of use? About five years of
typical use is normal....but by them Im sure it wouldn't
matter!) |
| LOSING a flash drive is so easy! I find them
almost every week enough where I might have to start posting
pictures behind milk cartons! Anyways, since they come in so
many shapes and sizes and can be carried in many ways
(pocket, keychain, etc.) the best way not to forget them
is putting them on a 'leash' a.k.a. -
lanyard. |
| I have also seen plenty of people try to use SOFTWARE
designed for other flash drives on theirs. Remember that
specific security software or format software was designed
only to work with the drives they say they work with,
anything else can destroy them. |
Resources:
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