Editing USB flash drive (section)

==Current and future developments==
[[File:USB 3.0 Flash Drive PCB.jpg|thumb|The internals of a 32&nbsp;GB [[Toshiba]] USB 3.0 flash drive. The [[USB 3.0]] standard is becoming increasingly popular. This drive has a write speed of 60&nbsp;MB/s and a read speed of 120&nbsp;MB/s, making it faster than the USB 2.0 standard.]]

Semiconductor corporations have worked to reduce the cost of the components in a flash drive by integrating various flash drive functions in a single chip, thereby reducing the part-count and overall package-cost.

Flash drive capacities on the market increase continually. High speed has become a standard for modern flash drives. Capacities exceeding 256&nbsp;GB were available on the market as early as 2009.<ref name="Kingston256GB"/>

[[Lexar]] attempted to introduce a ''[[USB FlashCard]]'', which would be a compact USB flash drive intended to replace various kinds of flash memory cards.{{when|date=August 2024}} Pretec introduced a similar card, which also plugs into any USB port, but is just one quarter the thickness of the Lexar model.<ref name=pretec>{{cite web|url=http://www.pretec.com/epages/Store.storefront/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Store.Pretec/Products/Q2UXXX|title=Pretec - Small size, Big impact|last=Administrator|access-date=1 June 2016|archive-date=23 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623224719/http://www.pretec.com/epages/Store.storefront/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Store.Pretec/Products/Q2UXXX|url-status=live}}</ref> Until 2008, SanDisk manufactured a product called SD Plus, which was a [[SecureDigital]] card with a USB connector.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dpreview.com/news/0501/05010606sandisksdflip.asp|title=SanDisk Ultra II SD Plus Cards|publisher=SanDisk|access-date=2008-03-02|archive-date=2010-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329043722/http://www.dpreview.com/news/0501/05010606sandisksdflip.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

SanDisk introduced a [[digital rights management]] technology called [[FlashCP]] that they had purchased in 2005 to control the storage and usage of copyrighted materials on flash drives, primarily for use by students.