Flash drives

[Coldicote]

I intend to buy a few USB memory sticks. They're not
difficult to find but so many are referred to as 'Flash Drives'.
'Flash' often appears in computer language these days, but what does it mean and is any particular software necessary in using it? Glad of some clarification please.

[Tuvok]

Flash drives, pen drives, memory sticks -are all the same thing (although there is a camera card called Memory Stick or MS)

Flash in this case is refering to the fact that stuff can be put on them pretty quick.

Other uses of the word flash are used when talking about replacing contents of a chip eg. flash the bios means upgrade the built in software (firmware) of the computer motherboard.

You just plug them into either mac or pc (pc's will go through the initial process of identifying and installing it as a drive). The just put stuff on it.

[Old_Geezer]

You 'flash' the data into memory rather than write it to a magnetic drive.

You should be able to simply connect, the computer operating system recognise it, and then you just use it as any other disk.

[Coldicote]

Thank you Tuvok and O-G. It's not so complicated in ordinary use as I thought it might be. If only my personal memory could be described as flash!

[martha32]

Flash drives, Thumb drives, USB drives, Memory sticks and Pen drives are all the same with different names. They are all memory storage devices with not much difference. The term "flash" is used because they all uses flash memory which can be filled upon easily. There are different kinds of flash drives available in the market. You can pick one according to your needs.
For your Reference:
http://www.usbdrawer.com/marvel-ironman-3-arc-reactor-flashdrive