Basics of Cisco Flash Memory

Cisco Flash Memory

Cisco flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be accessed without having to be installed and is written and erased electronically. It is most often used in memory cards and USB flash drives such as sticks, thumb drives, handy drives, etc. It is erased and programmed in blocks, which is different from the original flash drives which had to be erased all at once. Cisco flash memory is also much less expensive than byte programmable Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM). Applications which take advantage of its use include PDAs, laptops, MP3 players, digital cameras, cellular phones, and even video game consoles.

Cisco flash memory is non-volatile. This means that it does not need electricity in order to keep information saved. It also can be read quite quickly, although not as fast as DRAM. It also features fairly good shock absorbency, much greater than standard diskettes. All of these features explain why it is becoming the memory of choice for storage and use with portable devices. While Cisco is not the only manufacturer of flash memory devices, it is among the most popular brands, especially among professionals where the Cisco brand has become the brand of choice due to its reliability and functionality.

Cisco flash memory does have its limitations, one of which is that while it can be written one byte or word at a time, when it is erased it must be done so in blocks. While this doesn’t really affect the average user, it basically means that it can be written and read by random access, but must be erased as arbitrary random access. Another limitation to flash memory is that although fast, it has a limited number of erase-write cycles, meaning you can only use it so often before it will wear out. The fact that it will eventually fail means you should keep anything you have saved on a flash memory drive backed up as it could disappear at any time.

One interesting use for Cisco flash memory is to replace hard discs. Hard drives have certain limitations due to their mechanical nature. Flash memory on the other hand not having these mechanical limitations could be considered to be a solid state drive- an idea that is very appealing to many people. One of the drawbacks of this idea however, is the fact that flash memory is substantially more expensive per gigabyte so a flash hard drive would be that much more expensive to produce and to purchase.