With the increasing popularity of USB for attaching peripheral devices, due to its efficient electrical and mechanical interface and hot plug-ability, it was only a matter of time up until storage devices would incorporate the USB Interface. Starting in 2001 when the first 8MB USB thumb drive entered the market, most users now carry at least 1GB or more of portable storage with them. But the trend didn't stop there.

USB has an improved performance over legacy IDE, and an easier electrical and mechanical interface. Getting rid of the bulky and big 40 or 44 pin IDE connectors and using the small 2x5 header that is present on many motherboards, embedded USB storage has become the next logical step in the evolution of embedded Flash solutions. Embedded USB storage has been incorporated in many applications, ranging from Point-of-Sales, Blade Servers, Printers, and Single Board computers.

INTERFACE	USB 1.1/2.0	USB 1.1/2.0
APPLICATIONS	Embedded/Industrial	Communications/Networking Embedded/Industrial
TECHNOLOGY	Advanced Flash Management Total Drive Protection Flash Life Support Flash Memory Controller	Advanced Flash Management Flash Life Support Flash Memory Controller
READ/WRITE PERFORMANCE MB/S	30/20	30/20
POWER CONSUMPTION SLEEP/IDLE MODE OPERATING MODE	1.6mW (max) 300mW (max)	1.6mW (max) 300mW (max)
CAPACITY	Up to 16GB	Up to 8GB
	VIEW UFM	VIEW UFD