What are Promotional USB Flash Drives?
Simply stated, they are computer storage devices which can be branded with logos and text. The medium is a form of flash memory - a very stable form of storage estimated to have a lifetime of 10 years. Solid state technology means no moving parts. They are so small and portable that they are often attached to a key chain or neck lanyard. Decoration can be done by screen printing, pad printing, laser engraving, or other methods. For explanation of these terms, see the art info link at the left.
Your logo can be placed in a number of different positions on the drive casing, depending on the design. Branded Flash Drives come in a limitless variety of shapes and styles. Some drives are incorporated into the body of a pen and thus able to serve both functions. The size of flash chips means that they can be housed in a credit card shape. There are the truly novelty shape USB drives - just about any shape you can imagine! Countless shapes are available now in our catalogs, but customized shapes are just a matter of asking. (New custom shapes may require a larger minimum, but stock shapes can be ordered in branded versions in quantities as low as 25. Eco-friendly or environmentally sound thumb drives are also available made of wood or bamboo, carrying ROHS certification.
Promotional USB Sticks or Promotional Memory Sticks can be used to transport data and carry them from one computer to another. With our Stickydrive software, you can re-create your familiar computing environment on any borrowed computer. Security is enhanced because you never store your data on someone else's hard drive. For greater security, all data on the drive can be encrypted and protected by password. We even have drives with biometric protection.
The Flash Drives offered here are USB 2.0 products and are backwards compatible with USB 1.1. Standard transfer rate is in the region of 6 - 8 MB per second and extra fast transfer is often 10 - 13 MB per second per second. Drives have different read and write speeds. With rare exceptions, they contain Samsung or Hynix Tier 1 memory chips. Typical memory sizes today range from 64 MB to 8 GB, and there are even a few 32MB capacity drives still around. The web key is the smallest capacity variety, with no writable space but a built-in link to a web page. Memory prices are volatile on the world market from week to week, but have been dropping from year to year, so that a 2 GB drive can be owned for the price of 256 MB a short time ago. Flash drives are usually small & light. On some drives an LED indicates when the jump drive is in use. No external power is required as they are powered by the USB bus. The USB interface was introduced over a decade ago, appearing on Macintosh computers from Apple before becoming universal on PC's. As a result, they are compatible with every type of platform from System 9.0 to Windows Vista.
