Pen drives are the portable USB device with flash memory to store or transfer audio, video and data files from hard disc of one computer to another. As the name suggests the device resembles a pen or pencil in its shape and size and its memory is built in drive. These data storage devices are equipped with a large amount of memory space.
Generally considered as the improved version of older floppy or recent compact disc, pen drives with smallest memory space can also store a large amount of data. Any common type of files that can be loaded into a floppy or CD can be transferred to a pen drive. Apart from that pen drive are able to house photos, spreadsheets, word documents, music tracks, movie clips, etc. The pen drives are simple to use. One end of the pen drive is designed to connect to the USB connector of the desktop or the laptop to get the pen drive activated.
The files are easily dragged and dropped into the memory and can be forwarded for further use. The function of the pen drives depends on the operating system available. Pen drives prove to be an easy and practical way of transmission of data if the laptop or desktop is constructed with an USB port and the operating system is compatible. The data and information are stored in the memory of a pen drive in the form of an array. Memory chip is the backbone of pen drives which enables multiple read write and reliability.
IBM for the first time introduced the device with flash memory in the year 1998 and it got instant acceptability. Earlier pen drives were available with 8 MB storage capacity. These days the pen drives are being developed with 32GB, 64 GB and even 80 GB storage space. However, the pen drives with high storage space are not that popular for their high price. But the days are not far when pen drives with terabytes will be common in use.
The previous generation of pen drive is the thumb drive. They were also named as the flash drives, the chip sticks and the USB keys. But the core technology is same with every form. In comparison to its previous generation, the pen drives now come with greater and advanced features and are the multi-utility flash memory.
Now the advanced version of pen drives is available with in built cards that enables transferring data from the cards of a mobile phones or camera without the help of a computer. This forms a useful device as the data can be transferred to this larger storage space easily from equipments with smaller memory capacity.
Pen drives are one of the products of the faster changing technology. They are constantly changing in their shapes, sizes and storage capacity. The pen drives also differ in there features. Some pen drives come with in built rechargeable batteries and they get charged when the pen drive is connected to the USB port of the computer.
Almost all pen drives are developed with the built in sound recorder. They even give the provision of MP3 playback using a earphone but lack the clarity of sound. Some pen drives come with mini LCD displays that help in browsing the MP3 songs stored in them.
The technology of pen drives are changing just as the mobile phones and now the pen drives are available with micro sized one pixel cameras. Sooner the market is going to find pen drives with LCD based view finders.
The latest version of the pen drive is gaining popularity and almost every computer user today is found with one of some capacity or other.