Some time ago we wrote about the advent of a new standard for USB flash drives, USB 3.0. At the time, the standard was just beginning to be formulated and wasn’t out on the market. But now that the issues have been worked out with the standard, you can look forward to seeing a lot of 3.0 USB flash drives coming onto the market in the near future.

The reason is simple. The new USB flash drives read and write at 10 times the speed of USB 2.0 drives. Not only can they transfer data faster, but they can send and receive data at the same time, something USB 2.0 couldn’t do.

Fortunately, 3.0 USB drives are still backwards compatible, so you can still use them with older equipment that has USB 2.0 and even USB 1.1 ports. You won’t experience the speed increases, but at least you can still use the drives without having to fork out a lot of dough for a new computer.

If you move lots of data, you’ll love the new USB 3.0 specifications. USB 2.0 flash drives could only transfer data at about 480 megabytes a second. In contrast, the new 3.0 USB drives can transfer at 4.8 gigabytes a second. This makes them ideal for handling large files such as videos, music and digital photos.

The USB 3.0 standard was originated by Intel and began to appear on new computers earlier this year. Engineers at Intel believe they can achieve even higher speeds in the future using the same standard. There is additional connectivity built in to the USB 3.0 drive hardware.

If you’re a bit of a techno-geek, the secret is the additional “bus” that has been layered on top of the current USB 2.0 bus. Where the USB 2.0 bus had four wires, USB 3.0 flash drives have four additional wires, which allow them to send and receive data at the same time. Combined with a retooled data interface, the change in hardware provides the added speed of the new USB 3.0 flash drives.

This is pretty amazing, considering that the USB 3.0 standard requires the same power as its USB 2.0 cousin, just 500mA. This lets companies continue to create devices that use less power, something that is not only eco-friendly, but allows yields smaller devices that can work on a wider range of systems.

While there was originally a question as to whether USB 3.0 would catch on, the question is moot now. The drives are being added to all new computers. If you’re still hanging onto your old Compaq Luggable, not to worry. As noted earlier, the new flash drives are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1.

It will be interesting to see if Intel can achieve the added performance they seek in the new USB 3.0 standard. Time will tell!

One only has to look at the dearth of gadgets coming on the market today to see that we can now all have a bit of 007 in us, from home security systems that look like motion detectors to eavesdropping devices masked as a cell phone.

Is that Timex really a watch? Or is it a USB flash drive holding your sensitive data? The answer these days is that it can be both.

While Timex isn’t the maker, you can get a USB flash drive watch that also tells time. Hidden in the band is a USB connector. When you want to steal a little data (or back up your own), you can just unhook the connector and transfer up to 8 gigs of data. Best of all, it’s right there with you all the time. No more fumbling around in your pocket to find a handy USB flash drive, it’s right there on your wrist along with the current time and date.

Ordinary pens aren’t so ordinary either these days. Uncap the end and instead of ink you’ll find a USB flash drive. One second you could be writing an innocent note to someone and the next you can be docking the pen into a computer and backing up data. Not only are these great pens, but great USB flash drives as well. Sure, you could go with a standard USB flash drive, but why not get one that can also serve as a writing instrument, always at the ready to be analog or digital at a moment’s notice.

Even traditional USB flash drives can be pretty stealthy. There are drives on the market that contain their own ID scanner that can read fingerprints. Once you’re ready to lock down the data, you simply scan your own fingerprint once and the drive will use it to identify you and lock out intruders. Unless they have a duplicate set of your fingerprints, but that’s another story all together. You can be confident that no one else can access your data with these amazing drives. And if you want others to access it, it can handle up to 10 unique fingerprint IDs, so everyone that is supposed to access the data can.

These are just a few of the many USB sticks on the market today that aren’t what they appear to be. Because the actual drives are so small, they lend themselves well to becoming anything a savvy designer can think of. So, the next time you’re using an innocent looking lighter, perhaps you should wonder if it too leads a secret life as a USB flash drive

Thanks for your support!

Project Cleaner Hands Vision:

The relief of poverty and sickness of the people of developing countries, in particular those in Peru, by the provision of financial assistance towards the development of clean water and general sanitation.

Registered No. XT18327

If you’re an event planner who regularly schedules and sets up seminars, workshops and conferences, then you know the nightmare of ensuring that all the meeting materials end up in the hands of attendees.
In the past, this meant shipping hundreds of pounds of printed materials to the conference site, finding table space to lay it all out and having enough staff on hand to ensure that each attendee got all the materials.

More often than not, it was a sea of printed matter, along with CDs, DVDs and other takeaways that were expensive to produce, expensive to ship to the conference and expensive for attendees to take with them.
Flash drives are a delightful alternative, saving you time, money and space. It also saves your attendees money on the flight home, since they don’t have to pay often outrageous additional bag fees with airlines to lug all the materials home. They can even carry your flash drive on the plane with them and spend the trip home reviewing everything they learned.

Since the material can be created so that it is searchable, flash drives also offer the recipient the chance to review materials as they wish, rather than having to thumb through linear pieces of printed matter to locate the one thing they really wanted to know.

Best of all, everything can be stored in one portable medium, from the meeting notes and speaker presentations to video demos, Q&As and more. And if your attendees are willing to wait for their drive, you can even pre-load videos of the each presentation onto the drive along with candid photos of receptions and conference events.
Additional items can include:

- Presenter biographies
- Technical papers and white papers
- Links to post conference content on the web
- A directory of all attendees and presenters
- Sponsor links and marketing materials
- Information on other upcoming conferences, seminars and workshops

Feedback forms
This is really just the tip of the iceberg and the actual materials included on the USB stick can really be anything imaginable.

You could even send the USB flash drive to the attendee along with their registration confirmation ahead of time and include all the pre-meeting information they need, the schedule of events, speaker bios, a map of the meeting facility, suggestions about what to bring, etc.

Once attendees arrive, they can return the USB flash drives to you on the first day, giving you time to reload new information onto them that is specific to the meeting. Or you can send them after the event with all the keynote videos and photo memories.

This has the added benefit of allowing you to double the branding potential of the USB flash drive, sending the drive to the attendee, letting them use it until the meeting for their planning purposes and then returning it to them at the end with new information on it.
If you do use the before-after approach with USB flash drive information, be sure to let your attendees know ahead of time so they don’t load additional information onto the drive they are bringing to the meeting. This also has the added benefit of not having to reunite USB flash drives with specific attendees, saving you invaluable time and money.

Just be sure to bring additional USB flash drives with you. There’s always those in attendance who forget to bring theirs with them and you don’t want to be caught short. Usually, having a 10% overage is sufficient to cover the forgetful ones.

It is a lesson learned for all companies that give out USB drives with preloaded content – check your drives on your own systems first before handing them out. You want to make sure they are malware free while also making sure that the preloaded content is yours and not someone else’s.

Of course, choosing a reputable promotional company is the smartest way to prevent such a PR nightmare. IBM had to apologize in a letter sent to delegates, along with instructions for removing the malware, which was set up to run using setup.exe and autorun.ini files. Once the drive was inserted, the malware was automatically loaded onto the unsuspecting delegate’s computer. Unfortunately, the final instruction in the letter recommended reloading all the core operating system software, which, as everyone knows, is a nightmare.

If you’re contemplating the use of preloaded content on your USB flash drives, there’s no need to shy away from your plan. This is a great way to share sales materials, brochures, video demos, PowerPoints and other information with your prospects and clients.
With just a few precautions, you can confidently go with your original plan and preload content with confidence and success.

Double Check Your Source Files
As you prepare your marketing materials, make sure the computer you’re using isn’t already infected. Even if the factory checks the drives, you can accidentally transfer a virus through your own files. So double check them before sending them to the promotional company for integration and production into hundreds or thousands of USB flash drives.

Reconsider AutoRun
A file that automatically loads and runs may sound like a great idea from a marketing standpoint. The prospect or client automatically sees your marketing messages – very cool! But, there is a small risk that you can introduce malware. No matter how unlikely, you don’t want to have an IBM on your hands, sending out letters of apology for giving your contacts malware.

Choose a Reliable Supplier
The best way to prevent a problem is to hire a reputable supplier for your USB flash drives. They will be able to ensure that your disks aren’t infected at the manufacturer level so that you’re not stuck with a couple hundred or thousand branded USB flash drives that are infected and virtually useless.

Do Some Spot Checks
Once you receive your shipment of promotional USB flash drives, pick a couple out at random and run them on your own computer. Of course, you want to make sure you have the most up-to-date virus checker installed on your computer so that any of the latest incarnations of malware out there can’t slip through. You also want to make sure that the content that’s preloaded is yours and there wasn’t a mix up with another order.

With these simple precautions you should be able to continue to enjoy the power of preloaded content without the slightest fear of it backfiring on you. The real secret, of course, is to partner with a vendor who also has your best interests at heart. They may not be the lowest cost provider, but at least the low cost doesn’t include the cost of infecting your prospects and customers with malware.

A strong brand connection
Flash drives are a great promotional item because they get a lot of use. They rarely end up in a junk drawer. Instead, the recipient uses them at home, at work and everywhere in between to carry, transfer and share data, from family photos and music to department projects and homework. They are used every day in every way imaginable. And with them goes your logo and brand message. 

They are highly prized
Let’s face it. How many key chains or koosh balls can one person have? With USB flash drives, one is never enough. They are instantly recognised as being valuable to the recipient and having several is far better than having one (and one on a key ring is particular welcomed). 

An easy sell
Almost every promotional item outside of USB flash drives is static. In other words, the item has your logo and message printed on the outside of it, but that’s it. With flash drives, however, you can preload your sales materials onto it, from self-running presentations and catalogues to product sheets and website links. These can even be setup to run automatically the first time the recipient inserts the drive into their PC. We’d like to see a flying disc or baseball hat do that! 

Small package with big potential
The size of the USB flash drive has two big bonuses. First, it’s easy for the recipient to carry around with them on a daily basis and second; a lot of them can be shipped for a small amount of money. If you’ve ever shipped a thousand mugs from Point A to Point B you know how costly that can be. A thousand USB flash drives, however, one small box. 

Relatively cheap
Flash drives aren’t the most inexpensive promotional item out on the market today, true. Mugs, key rings and hats are all less expensive, particularly in quantity. But the base cost is only part of the equation. When comparing the items, you have to factor in the cost of printing, shipping, storage and warehousing (when no one wants another ball cap or mug). These can quickly make USB flash drives as affordable if not more so, particularly if you order the versions with less storage. Plus, you have to factor in the cost of having any promotional item miss its target, ending up in a drawer or in a kid’s toy chest. Cutting a few cents here and there can be the difference between having your message out in front of people every day and ending up in the toy chest next to Mr. Potato Head. 
 

When shopping for the next big thing in the promotional item, it’s often tempting to go with something breathtakingly new and fresh. But there’s always the inherent danger that today’s trendy gift becomes next week’s corporate joke. Koosh balls flying around the office were never appreciated. And you certainly don’t want your promotional item (and by inference your brand) to become the next item reviled by bosses everywhere.

The reason USB flash drives have become so popular in the marketplace today is their large storage capacity combined with their small size. Unfortunately, their small size means they can be easily misplaced or lost. In the case of the policeman, he had left the drive on the top of his car as he prepared to start his shift and drove off with it still there. 

While you may not be carrying around the identities of informants, you may want to still protect your data, particularly if your drive contains passwords, backups of your bank records or any other sensitive information.  
Many USB drives these days come with some measure of password and encryption built in. But if yours doesn’t have these features, here are some things you can do to keep your data from being viewed by others. 
If you just want to keep individual files inaccessible, you can usually do that in the program you used to create it. For example, in programs such as Word and Excel you simply need to go to the Tools menu. Click on Options and then the Security tab. It will then give you the option to enter a password and then confirm it. That’s it. Just be sure you remember your password or you’ll have to get another program to recover it. 
If you partition your USB flash drive into partitioned volumes, you can some password protect some files and not others using Cypherix LE. It can create its own vaults containing up to 25 MB each. Pretty handy, as long as you’re not trying to protect an Access database or other large file with it. It is free, however, something the products below can’t claim. 

Folder Lock allows you to password protect your USB flash drive, external drives or memory cards. A benefit of this program is you can open the files without installing the program on the computer you’re using. This can be a real bonus if you’re using the flash drive to move files between your home computer and the one at work. A lot of companies don’t let you install software on their computers. 
Folder Lock gives you a lot of choices. You can lock individual files, folders or the entire drive and you can use its encrypt feature to protect your USB drives, CDs and notebook too. 
When you need to access your drive data, you simply plug in your USB flash drive into any computer where Folder Lock is already installed or use the AutoPlay feature. Double click on the Locker you want to access and enter the password. 

The best program out there for locking down your USB drive data is Securestix. It runs on all versions of Windows and you can easily set up the security system for your USB flash drives.  
It uses AES-128 encryption technology, which is pretty high-powered encryption. If you do lose your flash drive, at least you know that no one is going to gain access to the files on it. 
In fact, the program not only locks your files, but also hides them from view. Anyone looking at the drive wouldn’t even see them, unless they had the software installed. Even then, they would need the password. And if you’ve forgotten your password, you can always use the Hint feature to remember it. 
If you’re not sure which product you like best, you can usually download a lite version that either offers a limited time trial period or has certain features disabled. This lets you work with the password protection schemes and features until you find the product that works best for you. 

Several of the products noted work on USB flash drives as well as computer hard drives and peripherals. If you need to protect your data all the way around, these may be the best option for you since you don’t have to learn different password protection and encryption protocols for every system you work with. 
The important thing to remember is that you want to protect your data. While you may think the day will never come when you leave your USB flash drive at Starbucks or lose it through a whole in your pocket, that day can come… often sooner than you think. At least if it goes missing, password protection of the data will give you some peace of mind that the drive is virtually useless to anyone who happens upon it.

Anonymous Feedback from our clients:

Excellent Service. Thank You

My only comment is that I prefer the lovehearts to the polos!

Everything we’ve needed help with, USB Company have come up trumps!

Each dealing we have had with you has been excellent in terms of speed, value for
money and helpful service – thank you!

From the very first point of contact USB Company were very professional and efficient. You were the cheapest and quickest for delivery, and we are very pleased with the product we have received.

Imran was very helpful and quick in answering all my questions.

A friendly, swift and comprehensive service. Thanks very much.

Excellent service and product exceeded my expectations. First rate!

I have been dealing with Imran and Tracy, they have been very proffessional
and helpful during this process. Having a mock up of the USB was very useful. We will recommending USB COMPANY to other companies. Thank you very much for you time and effort.

The product I ordered is first class and I will definitely come back to USB for
other products.

Great stuff.

An extremely fast and efficient service with an excellent end product. Will be looking
to repeat business for the foreseeable future. Many thanks!

Very impressed with the quality and timing of the whole service. Placed an urgent order on the Thursday – delivered on time on the Tuesday! First time using the company but will definitely look to placing more orders.

Thanks very much for your help. The product looks great and was just what we were looking for.

Received wrong order but rectified quite quickly

Our contacts Imran and Tracy were a great help in ordering process and
we will most likely be ordering some more USB’s in the new year.

We are very pleased with your patience regarding the situation with our colour and logo requirements. As UK and new European agents for an American company we needed to have our material “spot on”. Thank you for helping us to deliver.

Excellent very friendly and helpful staff. Thanks

Don’t really know about repeat order because of budget but if we have a requirement – yes

Great service …. did everything promised, easy and friendly to deal with.

Only unlikely to make a repeat order as it’s not something we use a great deal.
It was just a means of getting soft-copy handouts to students after some lessons.

I had a very urgent order and needed a split delivery. My inquiry was dealt with very quickly and my order arrived in time. It was very hassle free and we would definitely recommend your service.

The service at every point was friendly and quick and I was kept informed where the process was at every step of the way. The finished product was excellent and I felt the guidance I received when initially placing the order was fantastic.

Andrew is a legend!!!

The customer service was very good and the delivery was quick.

Speed and quality were fabulous.

We are very pleased with the extremely prompt service and the USB’s

Bespoke USB sticks are extremely popular these days. Not to be confused with standard shaped USB flash drives, Bespoke USB memory sticks can be made into any shape imaginable, from your logo to a replica of your product.

Any shape is possible, including 2-D and 3-D drives, in any colour imaginable. The only restriction is that the drive has to be big enough to hold the flash memory module and the standard USB connector that allows it to be connected to your computer. Fortunately, the custom drive company you hire can help you with the design to ensure that these constraints are taken into account.

While there are plenty of companies out there these days that will print your logo on a standard flash drive or memory stick, there are far fewer who will do custom design and production. That’s because custom drives require a larger skill set, including the ability to work with suppliers to integrate the electronics and the custom casing into a dependable yet affordable product.

If you want your company to really stand out in a market that is often flooded with generic flash drives, you might want to consider going with a custom flash drive product. While it will take some extra effort on your part to articulate your idea and review designs, the results can be well worth it, even with the higher unit cost of a custom memory stick.

So how do you find a dependable supplier for your Bespoke USB drives?

First, it’s important to find a company that actively promotes custom drive designs on their website or in their catalogue. This will be the first sign that they have the experience and expertise to create a custom drive design for you. It’s not important that they actually manufacture these drives on-site. Most companies farm this process out to factories in the Far East these days. What is important is that they understand the design process and how to integrate the electronics into the design you have in mind. Offering your target audience a drive that will fall apart or fail isn’t smart marketing and going for the cheapest product out there is an invitation to these kinds of promotional item disasters.

As you work with your design team they’re bound to make some recommendations or changes to your design. Consider each of them, as they may either be necessary or add features you may not have thought of initially. This may include a loop for a lanyard or a locking top to protect the USB connector from becoming damaged. A great promotional item company will have this kind of working knowledge of the products and how to best execute your idea.

Before you get too far into the process, you will want to request some samples of their past custom drive work. This is the best indicator of the kind of quality they demand and their capabilities. If a company is cagey about showing you samples, you may want to look elsewhere because you just may be their first custom USB drive customer. Given the importance of promotional campaigns, you never want to be someone’s guinea pig.

Finally, you want to discuss the electronics that are used in the drives. The memory chips are graded A through D and you want to know what grade of chips are in your drive. It’s not to say that a B grade is bad, just that it didn’t live up to the quality assurance process of a Grade A chip. Usually, the lower the grade, the more likely a chip can fail, have slow read/write speeds or not be able to fully access the level of memory advertised. Get the best grade you can afford and if at all possible, get products with Grade A chips. You won’t regret it.

The best advice of all is to do your homework before you order a large batch of custom USB drives that may not meet your expectations. And if you have the luxury of a few extra dollars in your budget along with time, you may want to order up a small batch first before ordering thousands. A lot of custom memory stick and USB flash drive companies offer production rates as low as 100 units.

In a very short period of time USB memory sticks and flash drives have virtually replaced CDs as the preferred backup device. The advantages are too hard to ignore – more storage space, smaller size and they’re virtually indestructible.

Memory is key

When we talk about the memory, we’re not talking about the size of the drive. That’s a personal choice and you can get drives up to 64 gigs these days. Instead, we’re talking about the quality of the flash memory chips that make this drive possible.

These chips are graded by the industry. Grade A is the best and they go down from there in grading. The key is to purchase Grade A whenever possible, or at the very least, the highest grade your budget can afford. You’ll probably have to ask the vendor for this information. It’s usually not posted on a website or in a catalogue. Just know that lower grade chips may have issues, including higher failure rates, the inability to access or use all the memory and sluggish read/write speeds.

Which USB?

USB 1.x and USB 2.0 are the workhorses of the flash drive business. If you need to choose between these, always go with USB 2.0, as it is backwards compatible. USB 3.0 will be the new standard, but you’ll pay a premium for them right now and a lot of computers can’t take advantage of their capabilities anyway, except the newest ones on the market. Avoid USB 1.x drives. They are painfully slow, even if they are a great deal.

Is it RoHS compliant?

If you’re in the EU, you need to know this one. RoHS is shorthand for Restriction of Hazardous Substances. The regulations are designed to protect EU citizens from hazardous chemicals and substances. If your vendor is using components that aren’t RoHS compliant, you can be held responsible for this as well as the vendor. So ask if the flash drive components are RoHS compliant and if you need them, ask for copies of the RoHS certificates.

WEEE, it’s recyclable!

At least it should be. WEEE is a directive that encourages products to be 65% recycled. If your organization falls under the WEEE directive, you want to make sure the drives you order comply with it, otherwise you may get into trouble.

When shopping for a reputable supplier to handle your USB flash drive or memory stick order, or any other promotional item for that matter, be sure you pick one that has experience in the product lines you’re interested in. If you’re in the EU, find a trusted supplier that understands the requirements outlined in RoHS and WEEE and don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions, especially if they aren’t immediately forthcoming with answers. That should be an immediate warning sign that it’s time to move onto someone else.