When sourcing your Flash drives, beware of counterfeit Flash drives which exist on the market that have less memory than the drive can actually deliver! These fake thumb drives look like the real deal, but instead of getting the memory you thought you were buying, these drives actually hold far less than they claim. Even if you do a “properties check”, everything may seem ok. But, when you actually attempt to copy files to the USB and pull the files back off, you will come to a startling realization. Flash drive memory is a commodity… if a deal looks too good compared with other quotes, question it… the lowest quote you receive may not necessarily be the best “deal”. For example, you may think you are getting a 16GB USB thumb drive, but some of these counterfeit drives will only provide you with 8GB of true usable storage space! Same goes with 32GB, 8GB, 4GB, 2GB and even some 1GB drives. Some of these imposters will only give you half of the true memory that you were asking for.

 

A reputable supplier will not sell you these fake memory drives. There are North American Manufacturers that service the United States and Canada that are reputable and would never sell these counterfeit drives. One such supplier is Microforum ( website: www.microforum.ca ). Microforum can also print your custom logo directly to the device in full color, from 1 colour to five colour logos/images (CMYK and spot white). They have a comprehensive USB catalogue on their website and they will even provide custom colors and shapes for your USB shells, upon request (there are minimum orders for custom shell colors and custom shapes, though).

 

 

USB can be setup to include a true Auto-run (like a CD-ROM autorun). This is accomplished at the controller level of the USB. By creating a partition in the USB’s controller chips, it is possible to create a partition which emulates a CD drive. That is, the Computer will think the USB partition is a CD-ROM! This works like a charm. The drawback, however, is that you need very specific software to edit the controller of the USB. To complicate matters, different USBs have different controllers and different chipsets! So, the only reliable way is to get the manufacturer/supplier of the USB to implement the Auto-run for you.

There are North American Manufacturers that service the United States and Canada that offer this service. One such supplier is Microforum ( website: www.microforum.ca ). They offer the setup service for a small fee and can even Write-Protect your files at the same time (see below for information on write protection for USBs). Manufacturers like Microforum can also print your logos directly to the device in full color, from 1 colour to full colour logos/images.

 

 

Write protection is a method whereby files can be locked to a USB. By locking the files to the drive, you can effectively prevent a user from deleting the files (whether inadvertently or not). This is useful for marketing USBs or informational USBs, where you do not want the user to remove the file from the USB device. The memory allocated to the locked files will not affect the rest of the USB. The rest of the USB memory can still be used for read/write purposes. This is important for marketing-related USB drives because they offer the best of both worlds… a marketing message on a USB which cannot be deleted and a bonus re-writable section that can be used by the recipient of the drive to store files, pictures, videos, and to transport all of this data.

Write protecting files on a USB is accomplished at the controller level of the USB. By creating a partition in the USB’s controller chips, it is possible to create a partition which emulates a CD drive. That is, the Computer will think the USB partition is a CD-ROM! This works like a charm. The drawback, however, is that you need very specific software to edit the controller of the USB. To complicate matters, different USBs have different controllers and different chipsets! So, the only reliable way is to get the manufacturer/supplier of the USB to implement write protection for you. If you need an Auto-run too, the manufacturer of the USB device can also supply the service of adding the Autorun to the partition.

There are North American Manufacturers that service the United States and Canada that offer this service. One such supplier is Microforum ( website: www.microforum.ca ). They offer the setup service for a small fee and can even Write-Protect your files at the same time (see below for information on write protection for USBs). Manufacturers like Microforum can also print your logos directly to the device in full color, from 1 colour to full colour logos/images.

 

 

It is possible to order a custom color for your USB to match your marketing or advertising campaign , or to match your branding. Be prepared that most manufacturers will require a minimum order of at least 500 USBs to produce a custom color. Also, be prepared to provide a Pantone colour number to the supplier of the USB thumb drives, they will require a this number (from the Pantone Matching System) to provide you with an accurate color drive. The Pantone number is also refered to as a PMS colour or PMS colour in the graphic design world.

There are North American Manufacturers that service the United States and Canada that offer this service. One such supplier is Microforum ( website: www.microforum.ca ). Manufacturers like Microforum can also print your logos directly to the device in full color, from 1 colour to full colour logos/images.

 

 

USBs can be customized to virtually any shape! There are already thousands of designs and shapes created and catalogued in the Industry and new USB shell shapes and USB styles are popping up daily. Chances are that the USB shape/style you are looking for already exists. There are already USBs in the shapes of miniature cars, truck USBs, credit card USBs, Tooth-shaped USBs, pen USBs, Dolphin-shaped flash drives, Boat-shaped drives, heart-shaped thumb drives, sport-themed USBs, key-shaped Flash and even sperm-shaped USBs (really)! USBs can be made from plastic, PVC, leather, wood or metal (or a combination thereof). So, the possibilities are extremely large and varied. If the shape you are looking for is not one that has been already manufactured in the past, please note that you may be required to manufacture a minimum order of USB flash drives to manufacture your customized USB!

There are North American Manufacturers that service the United States and Canada that offer this service. One such supplier is Microforum ( website: www.microforum.ca ). Manufacturers like Microforum can also print your logos directly to the device in full color, from 1 colour to full colour logos/images.