USB Sticks

What is a USB Stick?

These days most of our information is stored digitally in one way or another. A USB stick is one of the most convenient ways of storing and transporting data.

USB drives are small, robust, portable storage devices with no moving parts and can easily connect to a PC or laptop and many other modern technology devices such as PlayStation 4, TV's and Xbox via a built-in USB Type-A plug.

The reliable, removable, and rewritable storage devices can be known as a pen drive, jump drive, memory stick, flash drive or thumb drive.

The memory stick consists of a small printed circuit board carrying the circuit elements and USB connector, electrically insulated and protected inside a plastic, rubber or metal case and it's easily carried inside your pocket or on a keychain.

USB memory sticks are generally protected by a removable cap, in some cases by retracting into the body of a drive, but very unlikely to be damaged when not protected.

How do you use a USB Stick with a PC or Laptop?

Open the files that you want to transfer onto the memory stick.

Insert the memory stick into a USB port on your computer or laptop.

Click 'File' at the top of your document, from the drop down that appears click 'Save as'. 'Save in' will appear on your screen. This shows you all the available location that are available for saving your data. Click the 'Removable disk' Rename your file and click 'Save'+I23:I28.

You can also go to where your file is located, open a separate window for the USB stick and Click and drag from the current folder into the removable disk folder.

How to safely remove a USB stick?

No-one wants to lose their data so it is always best to remove your USB device safely.

To do this make sure that your computer has transferred or saved all of the required information. If your memory stick has a light to show you it is in use, wait until it stops flashing before removing.

You can also use the 'Safely remove hardware' icon in the notification area. Right click on the icon, Eject USB memory stick.

How much data can be stored on a USB flash drive?

The amount of data that can be stored on a memory stick comes down to the size of the device and the size of the files that you wish to store. The higher the capacity of the flash drive the more data you can store on it.