The amount of data. We own is growing at an
alarming rate. It needs to be stored somewhere secure and portable. Flash
memory devices do just that. Flash memory is a form of non-volatile memory. It
can be arranged and reprogramed at will. Data in it is arranged in units called
blocks.
The concept of flash memory was developed
at Toshiba by Dr. Fujio Masuoka in 1980. The term ‘flash’ was given as this
sort of storage is easily and electrically erasable. There are two types-NAND
Flash memory and NOR Flash memory, the difference lying in interface for
reading and writing to the device.
Flash memory is used in cameras, cell
phones, LAN switches, set-top boxes, embedded controllers, MP3 players and a
variety of other devices.
It was not so log ago we were using CDs and
floppy disks for data storage and transfer. Inerasable and bulky, they were the
only option the time. But now, pen drives and memory cards ensure that storage
options are reusable and as they can get. The future of flash memory holds
tremendous possibility. As with electronics, smaller is always better.
Currently the smallest flash memory disk is a SanDisk 128GB measuring just
19nm. With traditional methods of data storage we used to worry about how and
where to store the disks, damage that could occur to them and how to dispose of
old data. Now the only concern is that we might misplace the drive because it
is so small.
