What is a USB Flash Drive?

U disk is short for USB (universal serial bus) disk, and it is also called "U disk" according to the homophony. U disk is a type of flash memory, so it is sometimes called flash disk. The biggest difference between a USB flash drive and a hard disk is that it does not require a physical drive, is plug-and-play, and has a storage capacity much larger than a floppy disk, making it extremely portable ^[1] .

U disk, full name USB flash drive, English name "USB flash disk". It is a miniature high-capacity mobile storage product that does not require a physical drive using a USB interface. It is plug-and-play by connecting to a computer through a USB interface. The name of the U disk originated from a new storage device produced by Netac Technology, which is called "U-disk" and connected by USB interface. After the U disk is connected to the USB interface of the computer, the data of the U disk can be exchanged with the computer. However, since the similar technology equipment produced by Netac has been patented, it can no longer be called a "U-disk", and it is renamed a "U-disk" for homophony. Later, the name U disk was widely known for its simplicity and memorability, and it was one of the mobile storage devices ^[2]

Since 1998 ~ 2000, many companies claim to be the first to invent a USB flash drive. Including China Netac Technology, Israel M-Systems and Singapore Trek. But the real invention patent of U disk is China Netac. In July 2002, Netac's "Flash electronic external storage method and device for data processing systems" (patent number: ZL 99 1 17225.7) was formally authorized by the State Intellectual Property Office, which has filled the computer storage field in China The blank of invention patents in the past 20 years. The acquisition of this patent right caused a great shock to the entire storage industry. Including Israel M-Systems immediately submitted an invalid review to the China National Intellectual Property Office, which once became a worldwide patent dispute that shocked China and foreign countries. However, on December 7, 2004, Netac obtained a patent for a basic invention for a flash drive formally authorized by the US Patent Office, US Patent No. US6829672. The acquisition of this patent right finally ended this battle. China Netac is the world's first inventor of the USB flash drive. On February 10, 2006, US time, Netac entrusted Morgan Louis Law Firm to file a complaint with the US Federal District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, accusing the US PNY company of infringing Netac's US patent. In February 2008, Netac and PNY reached an out-of-court settlement. Netac signed a patent license agreement with PNY, and PNY paid a patent licensing fee of $ 10 million to Netac. This is the first time that a Chinese company has received a huge patent license fee in the United States, which further proves that Netac is the global inventor of the USB flash drive ^[3]

The composition of the U disk is very simple, mainly composed of the shell + the movement, of which ^[4]

The computer converts the binary digital signal into a composite binary digital signal (adds instructions for allocation, verification, stack, etc.), reads and writes to the USB chip adapter interface, and distributes the signals to

The main purpose of the USB flash drive is to store data. Through the efforts of fans and merchants, the USB flash drive has developed more functions:

1.Using USB sticks is very simple and convenient

There are various U disk interfaces. Strictly speaking, only a USB flash drive can be called a U disk. This means that most modern operating systems can read from and write to flash drives without the need to install additional drivers ^[7]

The U disk has a USB interface and is a USB device. If the operating system is

Semiconductor manufacturers strive to integrate the functions of various flash disks into a single chip to reduce the cost of flash disk components, thus reducing the overall cost ^[10] .

In the effort to increase capacity, 1GB and smaller flash drives are no longer manufactured. Kingston has released a 512GB USB 3.0 flash drive and claims to be able to store data for 10 years ^[10] .

Lexar is trying to introduce a USB flash memory card. It is compatible with USB flash drives and is expected to replace a variety of flash memory cards ^[10] . (completed)

SanDisk unveiled new technology that controls the use of copyrighted data on flash drives. The main users of this technology are students. This technology is called FlashCP ^[10] .