USB Flash Memory As An Alternative To Hard Disk

Can you ever imagine that? We can’t bet this will not happen. It can happen in the nearest future itself. But, as for now, a USB Flash Memory is no good rival for a hard disk. There are definitely many features that kindle the prospects of a USB Pen Drive appearing adorned in the garb of a hard disk. To mention some, the high speed, easy accessibility and lesser power consumption add up to the quality of a flash drive. Moreover, it is noiseless unlike a platter-based hard disk. Still, the negatives lump out more. The cost is a major hindrance for this aspect.

Though the cost is treading down, the present scenario makes it unlikely that the cost-effectiveness of a hard disk could be beaten by a flash drive in the near future. The limit in number of erase/write cycles is something incongruous for a hard drive. Yet, the unyielding man never gives up. There were endeavors from a few years for the same and many companies came out with their versions of flash memory-hard disks. More successful ones were the hybrid disks incorporating the features of both the hard disks and flash drives, in which high speed cache memory of flash is used for storing unmodified data.