In this world of running, it is not possible to work sitting in one place, so science is also making technology smaller and smaller to make our work easier.
One such name comes from Pen Drive i.e. USB flash drive, which helps in making our work easier. But have you ever thought that what is this pen drive and how it works?
Many people would know that pen drives are used to save data such as photos, documents, etc., but this is not complete information. By reading this article, you will know what is pendrive and how it works.
In this article, we will tell about the mechanism of a pen drive, what kind of gadget it is, how data is saved in it, and what are its types?
What is Pen Drive?
A pen drive is a kind of hardware which we can see, touch, and feel. It is a portable device used in our everyday life, which can be carried anywhere in your pocket and can be connected to any computer or laptop when needed.
We use it to save or back up data, such as pictures, videos, documents, files, etc. Along with this, you can also install any program (software) directly inside the pen drive.
However, in today’s time, there are many cloud storage such as DigiBoxx, Amazon Drive, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. available, using which you can upload your personal data.
But it is mandatory to have an internet connection to access these cloud storage. On the other hand, there is no need for the internet to use a pen drive.
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Components (Part) of USB Flash Drive
USB flash drive, whose full form is ‘Universal Serial Bus’, is divided into three main parts, the first part of its components is the connector which attaches to a PC, mobile, or laptop, it is type-C, 2.0, 3.0, and comes in the type-B model. The second is the internal board in which all the components of the pen drive are fitted.
Inside the board, a microchip is installed for storage, which is also called NAND flash memory, which stores the data. This chip can be 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB capacity.
The third is the microcontroller chip which does the work of transferring and writing data. Read more below to know it in full detail. In addition, there is an outer shell that keeps its parts covered.
How pen drive works?
If you have even a little knowledge of computer, then you will know about ASCII. If you do not know, then let us tell you that it is a type of character encoding, which helps in reading, understanding, and storing data between two electronic devices.
It stores information that is programmed in the language of 0’s and 1’s. USB Flash drive saves more data using this.
For data storage, 8 micro transistors are used, which are called switches in technical language, which are represented by 1 and 0. Let me tell you here that when the switch is on it is 1 and when it is off it becomes zero.
The data stored in the format of 0’s and 1’s is processed by the computer to display it in its original form.
There is a lot of difference between a USB flash drive and a normal transistor. There are three types of gates in a simple transistor. First, there is the source (original) door which allows the electrical current to enter.
The second is the drain gate which sends the current out and the third is the control gate which determines (in a way controls) the flow of current.
When current is given to the simple transistor the gate called source opens and switches on as 1, at that time the current is at its high level. As soon as the current stops coming, this gate closes and switches off as zero and all the data is lost.
But pen drives have MOSFET salt transistors, whose mechanism is completely different. There are only 2 types of gates in a USB flash drive, the first is the control gate and the second is the floating gate. However, it also has a source and drains.
When the pen drive is plugged into the PC or laptop, the switch turns on, and current flows from the source to the drain, but some electrons sit on top of the floating door in the form of 1s and that is your data.
Now even if you take out the pen drive from the computer, it remains the data store. When you give the delete command from the computer then the PC sends negative voltage and stores electrons above the floating gate to 0 and it switches off thus everything present in the USB flash drive is deleted.
Types of USB Flash Drives
Many models of USB Flash Drives are available in the market, which we are telling below, you can buy according to your need.
OTG Pen Drive
OTG pen drive is the one that connects directly to your smartphone. If you use a smartphone a lot, then OTG Pendrive will be a better option for you because with its help any file can be transferred from phone to phone.
When the memory is full, you can empty the mobile by putting it anywhere while walking, that is why it is called USB On-The-Go, which is the full form of OTG.
This type of pen drive is called a dual USB flash drive which has micro-USB on one side (which will be attached to the phone) and USB 2.0 or 3.0 on the other end for the computer. The flash drive installed in the smartphone is also known as type B.
Apart from this, mobile OTG pen drives are available online in type-C and iPhone sizes, which cost a little more.
USB 2.0
Most of the PCs of today have a USB 2.0 hub (port), so most of the flash drives come with a 2.0 size. The reason for this is that it costs less for the companies to manufacture it, and anyway, since the year 2000, only USB 2.0 is being used.
Talking about the speed, its maximum transfer speed has been measured at 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s) but not much is available in general use. Its full speed is 12 Mb/s in normal use and 1.5 Mb/s in low.
USB 3.0
The latest flash drive till now is considered to be USB Type 3.0, which was introduced in the year 2008. However, there are types above this, such as USB 3.1, which are very expensive, so most of the companies do not use it because the common customer does not know how to buy it due to the high price.
Some expensive laptops or computers have a port of USB 3.0 and 3.1 in which type-A flash drive is installed. Its receptacle is blue in color and inside it, there are 9 types of small-large receptors (receivers) which work to establish the connection of the flash drive.
USB 3.0 is said to have a 5Gb/s super speed on paper, but its actual transfer speed has been measured at 500 MB/s.
What is the maximum size of a USB flash drive?
To make the task simpler, companies have been trying to increase the size of USB flash drives as much as possible. In today’s time, the storage capacity of pen drives ranges from a minimum of 2GB to a maximum of 1TB. Kingston company has created the world’s largest capacity flash drive, named DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0.
But for the size above this, you will have to take an external hard disk only. By the way, most people have been seen using Pendrive with 512 GB capacity.
If you have any questions then you can ask in the comment below.