A flash drive is a small external storage device that reads and writes to flash memory, a solid-state storage medium that's both inexpensive and durable. Given that your typical flash drive is the size of an adult's thumb, it's not uncommon to hear of these ubiquitous devices as "thumb drives". Due to their portable nature and near-universal compatibility, flash drives have largely supplanted the floppy diskette as everyone's favorite method for transferring files between multiple computers without the use of a network.
Most if not all flash drives sold today are equipped with a male "A"-type USB plug for connecting to just about every computer sold since 1998, hence the industry term USB flash drive (UFD). That being said, at least two companies were crazy enough to have offered alternatives with FireWire and eSATA/USB combo interfaces, though have largely been phased out leaving USB the undisputed victor.
It should be noted that while newer Solid State Drives (SSDs) share the flash memory medium with traditional USB flash drives and sometimes come equipped with a USB interface, many prefer to keep the two terms distinct from one another due to the large differences in physical size, speed, and price.
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