USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. It is a computer concept to name the port that allows peripherals to be connected to a computer.
The creation of USB dates back to 1996, when a group of seven companies (including IBM, Intel and Microsoft) developed the format to improve the interconnectivity of technology devices. USB, unlike other ports, does not require a system reboot to recognize the peripheral connection (it is more plug-and-play capable).
USB is capable of detecting and installing the necessary software for devices to work. Unlike other types of ports (such as PCI), it does not have much bandwidth for data transfer, which is a disadvantage in certain cases. Keyboard, mouse or mice, digital cameras, scanners, printers and cell phones are some of the peripherals that can be connected to a computer through the USB port. All this without forgetting other equally important peripherals such as video cameras, external DVD recorders, portable hard drives, pen drives, musical devices such as MP3, joysticks, steering wheels or webcams. Currently, there are four types of USB ports that differ according to their data transfer speed. USB 1.0 has a maximum transfer rate of 1.5 Mbps and is used in devices such as a mouse and keyboard. USB 1.1 can reach transfer speeds of up to 12 Mbps, while USB 2.0 reaches 480 Mbps. USB 3.0 is finally under development and can reach a transfer speed of 4.8 Gbps. We can determine that USB 3.0 is not only ten times faster than its predecessor, but also significantly reduces power consumption. And all this without forgetting that, in addition, it also reduces the time needed to carry out the corresponding data transmission. Reasons of all that made one become the most requested at the moment. However, we cannot ignore the existence of what is known as USB memory. This is a small device that is used to store a lot of information using what is known as a Flash system. Which is also called a pen, pendriver, memory stick or memory key, among others.
Today, the USB flash drive has become one of the most used computing devices by citizens around the world. And it is that it allows you to carry with you a large amount of information in a small device with limited dimensions, reduced weight and therefore easily transportable. Up to 1TB of data can be held on a flash drive that connects via a USB connector to a cell phone, tablet, or laptop, for example.