The floppy disk may ultimately be dead. even though the advent of the CD-ROM allowed PC users to easily view large amounts of info in a portable package, the inability to rewrite prevalent CDs meant that computer users who wanted to transfer their files and info were stuck utilizing the unreliable floppy disk, which all too often broke down or attempted to reconfigure itself. CD-R and CD-RW drives came along to solve part of the challenge, but they weren't the answers most of us were planning for. CD-R disks are only writeable, and though their more costly cousins the CD-RWs are rewriteable, not enough computers are equipped with the drives to handle them to make them worthwhile.

The good news is, someone clever came alongside and realized that since a large amount of pcs have at least one USB (universal serial bus) port, why not make some sort of memory device which attaches to pcs through an USB port? The flash stick was born. Also called flash drives, memory sticks allow PC users to speedily and speedily plug in the memory stick to a PC and have it recognized as another drive. After it's plugged in, users need only to drag and drop the files they want to transfer onto the flash stick and they can transfer the files to yet another computer. The flash drives aren't easily corrupted by magnets or interference, resulting in trouble-free use. They also don't need any sort of electricity supply in order to retain information, so they can be used when needed.

Sony patented the term "memory stick" when they came out with a new storage device for their digital cameras and digital files. The Sony memory stick is a flash drive which fits in all Sony cameras. Sony computers, along with laptops, feature a memory stick drive as well, enabling Sony users to slide the memory stick directly from their cameras to their pcs, effortlessly transferring their photos. In fact, almost all computer cameras utilize flash systems in one form or another, either in Secure digital, flash Stick, or Compact Flash formats. These schools of thought of flash memory allow users to save their photos and files onto safe, secure, reliable, and portable hard drives which can be carried in a shirt pocket. With sizes ranging up to three or even five gigabytes, users can store hundreds of times the data they could store on widespread floppy disks. Eventually, the dear old floppy disk's time may have past.