What are the Differences Between Thumb Drives and Flash Drives? The main difference between thumb drives and other external flash drives are that other flash drives require a USB cable or a card reader to connect to devices, while a thumb drive's plug is embedded in its housing.

Some allow up to 100,000 write/erase cycles, depending on the exact type of memory chip used, and are thought to physically last between 10 and 100 years under normal circumstances (shelf storage time). Common uses of USB flash drives are for storage, supplementary back-ups, and transferring of computer files.

16GB – can hold approximately 10240 images, 3840 MP3 files, 300,000+ pages of Word documents, or 5120 minutes of video. 32GB – can hold approximately 20480 images, 7680 MP3 files, 600,000+ pages of Word documents, or 10240 minutes of video.

Some flash drives are expensive because they have 1TB storage capacities; others are extremely pricey because they're mushroom-shaped gadgets covered in diamonds and other precious stones.