What is a USB stick and why do I need one?

A USB stick, is also known as a Flash drive, Thumb drive or Pen drive. A USB stick is a plug and play portable storage device. 

USB Sticks have taken the place of floppy drives and CD-ROMs. They are a lot more portable and can be put onto a keychain. Unlike a CD, they are less prone to damage from small scratches and general wear and tear. They are fantastic because they do not need any external power or batteries. They can be used on many different operating systems. (Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Linux). And some even come with dual ends so that you can plug into a desktop, laptop, tablet, android phone, iPhone or iPad. 

They can start as little as 4GB and go through to 1 TB of storage space. But on average these days 8 GB is the minimum with 64GB the maximum unless a special order. 

You need a USB Stick for saving data that you are working on. Many students back each day’s work up to one to ensure that if something happens to their device they are covered. Some can be password protected for sensitive documents. Sharing photo’s without using the cloud is also another great use for a USB Stick. 

The downsides to a USB stick is that they can get infected by using in an infected computer.  

And they can be physically broken. They are enclosed with a plastic or metal shell but if you pull the USB out of your PC at the wrong angle it is possible to damage the board it contains and therefore make the USB un-useable, this would mean not having access to the data unless taken to a data recovery specialist. 

All up we love USB sticks for data back up and file transfer from one pc to another. We especially love the dual ended ones for use with our phones and tablets.