If you belong to the early decade baby-boomer-generation and parts of the silent generation, chances are memory sticks and USB flash drives are bundled along with thoughts of “Beam me up Scotty” as an image of Captain Kirk transports from one planet to another fills your thought. Well, you get the general gist. Memory sticks and USB flash drives (or thumb drives) are, for now, the ultimate in storing data that would have put to shame the 1960’s Starship Enterprise’s reel recorder tapes.
Fast forward. Ten years ago, the advent of computer and the internet brought about the proliferation of floppy disks and then the CDs for storing and or recording electronic sound and images. One of the upsides of technology is that tech-geeks never seem to stop thinking of ways on how to improve gadgets and other electronic stuff. In line with the technology invented to meet the demands of exacting consumers, smaller, portable and big-capacity-storage devices came out: memory stick and USB flash drive.
SanDisk MsM2 Memory Stick
Memory stick is a flash memory card launched by Sony in 1998. The device is typically used for storing pictures from a digital camera to be later extracted using a computer. Today memory sticks are used in storing videos and games for portable gaming modules too. Storage capacity was from an initial 4 MB to 128 MB which were thought to be enough. They were not. Today, memory sticks are up to 32 GB in storage capacity.
A leading memory stick brand today is SanDisk. The company has come out with different types of memory stick to meet varying consumer needs. There’s the SanDisk Ultra Video SDHC for capturing HD (high definition) video or the regular SanDisk Ultra Video SD/HC for flash memory card. Smaller and slimmer versions like SanDisk Ms (M2) W/o MS duo Adapter for your mobile phones. Though lower end models of mobile phones are fine without flash cards, a video and picture capable higher end mobile phone definitely needs one.
SanDisk Ultra Back UP USB Flash Drive
IBM invented the USB flash drive to do away with floppy diskettes in 1998. The portable data storage medium caught on like wild fire. USB flash drives are worn as necklaces, used as key chains, and can be found inside most bags, backpacks, laptop bags and attaché cases. A USB flash drive or thumb drive is re-writeable and holds its memory without a need of a power supply. A thumb drive will fit into any USB port on a computer or laptop, thus it is also called a USB flash drive. A USB user can plug the drive into a computer and will not need to restart the computer to access the thumb drive. These thumb drives are very stable as storage devices. You can store files of any kind: text, video, pictures, music. Memory is up to 8GB. The downside is if your computer runs on Windows 98, chances are some thumb drives might not be compatible.
Because the thumb drive has become so hip and hot, most come in designs that hip and cool too.
In a nutshell, a memory stick is used for storing images from portable digital gadgets like camera, video and mobile phones. The memory stick needs an extractor for you to transfer the images from your portable digital gadget to your PC. A thumb drive is used to store files of all kinds straight from your PC or laptop. Though both are used for storage, each type has its own function.
There are cards with various capacities, speeds and formats. Due to the available variety, it becomes easier to choose a card according to your needs and budget. The good thing is that SanDisk cards are available for your digital cameras, 
