Flash Memory is a solid-state, non-volatile, rewritable memory that functions like RAM and a hard disk drive combined. Flash memory store bits of electronic data in memory cells just like DRAM (Dynamic RAM), but it also works like a hard disk drive that when the power is turned off, the data remains in the memory. Flash memory cards and flash memory sticks are examples of flash memory.
Flash memory cards are also used with digital cellular phones, MP3 players, digital video cameras and other portable digital devices.
Flash memory is also called USB drives, thumb drives, pen drives or flash drives, are the up-and-coming players in the portable storage market.
The advantages of flash memory are, it offers fast reading access times among the secondary storage devices, (though not as fast as RAM) it is durable and requires low voltage. It is also light and small. The disadvantage is, it is more expensive than the magnetic disk of the same capacity.