USB flash drives are common among people who carry data from home to workplace, or vice versa. Theoretically, they can retain data for 20 years, and can re-written one million times. Although initially designed to store data and documents, it is common to find programs in USB i2c drives or any other files because they behave like any other file system.

The new U3 devices integrate Microsoft Windows applications menu, similar to the own menu “Start”, that organize image files, music and more.

The availability of flash drives has led to reduced costs that are widely used for promotional or marketing purposes, especially in fields related to the computer industry (eg technological events). They are often distributed for free, sold below cost or included as a gift to purchase another product.

Some data preload memories are read-only, others are set up with two partitions, one read-only and one that you can include and delete data. USB flash drives with two partitions are more expensive.

Configuration

USB i2c flash drives can be configured to autostart function (autorun) for Microsoft Windows, with which to insert the device automatically start a specific file. To activate the autorun feature you must save a file called autorun.inf with the appropriate script in the root directory. Autorun function does not work on all computers. Sometimes this feature is disabled to hinder the spread of viruses and Trojans that exploit this system boot.

Another use of these reports is that if the computer’s BIOS supports it, you can boot an operating system without CD, DVD or even hard disk. Booting from USB i2c memory is widely used in new computers and is faster than with a DVD-ROM reader. You can find Linux distributions that are completely contained in a USB stick and boot from it.

The large capacity USB i2c drives, like hard disks or CD/DVD are an easy way to make a backup, for example. There recorders and CD-ROM, DVD, floppy or Zip drives that connect via USB.

Moreover, since 2008, there are audio equipment with a USB port to which you can connect a USB stick to play the music contained therein. As a security measure, some USB drives have the possibility to prevent writing by a switch. Others allow to hide aside part by a key.

Caring for USB drives involves avoiding falls or blows, humidity, magnetic fields and extreme heat. In some systems the writing is done on a through a write cache to speed up the time, but if the unit is removed before the system saves the contents of the write cache this can cause discrepancies in the existing file system on the USB stick that could generate data loss.