A small portable device such as a ‘pen drive’ which connects to a USB port on a computer and is used to store data which can then be transferred to another computer. The term flash driveA small portable device such as a 'pen drive' which connects... derives from ‘flash’ memory, invented by Dr Fujio Masuoka of Toshiba around 1980. The name flash (apparently, according to Wikipedia, 2010) was suggested by Masuoka’s colleague, Shoji Ariizumi, who likened the memory erasure function to a camera flash.
