USB Flash Drive

Q: Can I pull out the Flash Disk when its LED is on or sparkling?
A: No, you can't, otherwise you may suffer from data loss. If the disk cannot work after such incident, please format it again. No physical damage was done, so after reformatting the Flash Disk is ready to be used again.

Q: Can the mobile Flash Disk used as starting disk?
A: Yes. Just set the BOOT DEVICE as "USB-ZIP" in the BIOS, and the system will be guide to recognize the USB Flash Disk.

Q: What should I do if the USB Flash Disk fails to read or write after a normal installation?
A: There are two possible causes:
(1) If you can read data from the disk but cannot write, this is mostly because the disk is under write-protect state, or the storage space is full. Delete some documents, and you can continue to use it.
(2) The malfunction may be caused by power-off or improper pulling out of the USB Flash Disk. Simply reformat the disk.

Q: Can I change the state of write-protect when the USB Flash Disk is connected to a computer?
A: No, you can't. The right way: first pull out the USB Flash Disk, have the state changed, then connect again. Improper usage may lead to malfunction or damage to the USB Flash Disk.

Q: I've downloaded the driver files, but when I doubleclick the file, it says a programme is needed to open this? What should I do?
A: The driver files are ZIPed, which means they need to be extracted before you can install them. Unfortunately Windows 9x doesn't support ZIP files as a native format, therefore you need to obtain 3rd party programme to extract the files. We recommend for this purpose WinZIP www.winzip.com. If you are not familliar with extracting ZIP files, please reffer to WinZIP help file, or read the instructions here.

Q: My operating system is showing a message that the drive is write protected?
A: Our USB Flash Disks are equipped with a security switch - which can be set in two positions WRITE ENABLED and WRITE PROTECTED, switching it to the other position should resolve the problem.

Like to know a bit of background about the good old USB drive - then read on!
Article © usbfactory 2006. May not be reproduced without permission

USB Drives – Good Things Really DO Come In Small Packages
First it was the floppy disk that fell victim to the ZIP® drive, and then the ZIP gave up its throne to the CD/R.

And while the CD/R still holds a high place of honor in the realm of portable storage medium, there’s no question that the USB flash drive is the undisputed leader when it comes to portability, storage capacity and ease of use.

USB drives, also called key drives, flash drives, thumb drives, jump drives, and pen drives, first appeared in 1998. The brainchild of Dov Moran, President and CEO of M-Systems, an Israeli company known for their technological prowess in developing flash memory chips, were first distributed throughout Europe under the brand name of Disgo. They were initially available with 8 MB, 16 MB, 32 MB, and 64 MB storage capacities. Later innovations by Moran and his team enabled storage capacity to be increased to 256 MB.

Meanwhile, in the United States, computer giant IBM was busy creating their own version of the USB drive, released in 2001, with a 16 MB storage capacity. Drives with up to a 4 GB storage capacity are commonly available today.

Other companies, particularly in Asia, began creating knockoffs and pretty soon the market was flooded and prices fell quickly. Today USB drives can be had for as little as U.S. $12 with prices for even the largest capacity drives hovering under U.S. $100. Well, not the largest USB drive. That honor goes to the Kanguru 64 GB USB drive with a retail price of U.S. $630!

USB drives are available everywhere you look. Internet research giant Gartner group reported that 88.2 million USB flash drives were shipped in 2005, and they project that 115.7 million will shipped by the end of 2006.