- small ~ 80 mm long x 20 mm wide x 10 mm thick (similar in size to a human thumb - they fit in a shirt pocket, on a key ring, ...) - plug directly into any standard USB port (including low powered USB ports) - automatic recognition on modern operating systems (no drivers required for Windows 2000/XP or Mac OS 9/X, need to install drivers from CD or download drivers from web for earlier OS) - currently range in storage capacity from 8 MB to 4 GB - typical USB 1.1 read speeds 1-10 Mbps, write speeds 0.5-2 Mbps (USB 2.0 ~ 10 x faster) - use power from USB bus (no external power or batteries required) - ideal for transferring files between laptop or desktop computers - shock resistant solid state device (no moving parts - only silicon chips) - usually preformatted in FAT format for cross-platform capability (but slower speeds) - draw very low power