USB Pen Drive 2GB: Use of Flash Chips

If someone mentions the phrase ‘USB Pen Drive 2GB”, how many of us would you think would be able to decipher the meaning of the same? With the way world is progressing and technology is growing by leaps and bounds, one can imagine that this is a terms that most of the people would be able to comprehend. This would refer to ‘a USB storage device that has a capacity of storing almost 2GB of data in it’. Now what make these USB drives function so efficiently are the flash chips that are present in these drives, and there are basically three types of flash chips and the functionality and the utility of the same have been underlined below:

Single Layer Cell Chip (SLC): This is the most expensive form of flash drive that can hold only one bit per cell. It is costly because it uses less power and has a higher rate of transfer of data. In that respect it is considered more appropriate for industrial usages as it is able to store data in itself safely.

Multi Layer Cell Chips (MLC): These kinds of chips are usually less expensive than the SLC and are more appropriate for usage in consumer products. They are capable of holding 2 bits per cell, implying that they are able to hold twice the amount of information as the former. However they are cheaper as they have lower endurance level implying less erase/write cycles possible on them.

Triple Layer Cell Chip (TLC): TLC is the slowest of all the chips and is cheap too owing to the slower rate of transfer of data. It is capable of holding three bits per cell of data; however with the slow read write speed only lower end products use this kind of flash chips. It is also not recommended for critical data that requires a safe storage medium.

So it is very interesting to note that something that is as small as capable of fitting into your palm and as powerful as capable of storing huge amounts of data in it is so intrinsically designed that it needs a detailed knowledge to get the right one for yourself. It is therefore always recommended that one takes expert opinion about the same before indulging in the one that you want!