What is Flash Memory?

What is flash memory, and when is it the best choice? You've got options when it comes to storing digital data. For durability and portability, flash drives offer a useful solution.

What Is Flash Memory?
Flash memory, also known as solid-state memory, is a specific type of computer memory that can be easily erased and overwritten. Unlike the memory you typically find in computers, flash memory doesn't require power in order to retain information. This means you can unplug it from a computer and carry it around, and it keeps the data you've written on it until you flash it, or erase it, and overwrite it with other data. Other types of memory require electricity to retain data, whereas a flash drive holds the data until you choose to erase it.

Many Forms of Flash
The most common type of flash memory you'll encounter is USB thumb drives. USB drives, also known as key drives or thumb drives, are solid-state drives that don't have moving parts and can easily access and overwrite data. Because there are no moving parts, access times are slightly faster than typical hard drives.

What is flash memory and what forms does it come in: memory cards for digital cameras, some MP3 players, cell phones, video game consoles and even your computer's BIOS memory. Flash memory is a better choice than hard-drive based memory for items that may experience jarring, such as a sports MP3 player; hard-drive based computer memory may skip or malfunction with jarring, whereas flash memory has no trouble with rough handling.

Reusable
What is flash memory designed to be used for? When you flash the cells, you erase data contained in those cells and they are free to write new data. However, flash memory doesn't last forever; eventually, the cells get worn out from the erase and rewrite cycles. Luckily, flash memory has gotten very inexpensive, so it's not a problem to replace flash memory when it finally dies. You should never store the only copy of a file on a flash memory stick, though, because failure is unpredictable. It might work fine one day, and the next day be completely inoperable.

Small Size, Big Storage
Flash memory is small. It's solid-state technology, which means it doesn't require moving parts like the rotations in a hard drive, so it's a lot more compact than other types of storage. An external hard drive, for example, is now about as small as a paperback book; a flash drive fits on your keychain and is approximately the size of your finger.

In addition to compact size, storage capacity of flash memory has been increasing over the past several years. While a 128MB flash drive would be massive storage a few years ago, today's flash drives range from 2GB to 32GB, with larger drives coming out all the time. Flash memory cards are increasing in capacity, too, to the point that if your digital camera is a few years old, it probably doesn't support the largest flash memory cards. Be sure to check your owner's manual before you buy flash memory to make sure it will work in smaller electronics, such as cell phones, digital cameras and music players.