Who Invented the Computer Jump Drive?

Almost everyone with a computer has had a need for a jump drive but who invented the computer jump drive? A jump drive is also known as a thumb drive, flash or memory stick as well. The purpose of the jump drive is to store information to be used between computers. As such, the jump drive has a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port that can connect to any computer with a USB drive. The jump drive has no moving parts because the data is stored on solid state flash technology. This means that the technology can take a lot of abuse and still function, unlike previous types of data storage such as a floppy disk or CD.

Given the near universal importance of a jump drive, few people probably wonder about who invented the computer jump drive. In fact, “JumpDrive” is a trademarked name from the company Lexmark. Like many products or companies, such as Kleenex or Xerox or Coke, the name of the product becomes a universal name for all products in that category. A trademarked name that has gone on to become a generic term is called a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym. Since “JumpDrive” is a trademarked name, the rest of this article will refer to the USB data drive as a USB flash drive.

The actual development of the USB data drive, or USB flash drive, was a collaborative effort but not intentionally collaborative. The first patent goes to the company M-Systems and the developer, Dov Moran, in 1988. However, the data drive that he created doesn’t look anything like the jump drive that we know today.

The next development comes from Pua Khein Seng and his System on Chip (SOC) drive. Back in 2000, he and four other engineers invented this technology, and his company created the drives. He then took this idea to Toshiba, a company that would be able to distribute his idea in a worldwide market. Toshiba became the largest investor in the jump drive and helped place the product in markets worldwide.

Concurrent Developments

• Two other companies were creating USB drives at the same time, Trek Technology and Netac. Both attempted to patents their designs and both were told that their designs were to generic to be patented. 
• IBM also produced and sold a USB flash drive in 2000.
• Lexar marketed a compact flash in 2000.

Benefits to Using a USB flash drive

• Data storage components remain free from dust and scratches
• Huge amounts of data storage and the capacity for more increases with technological improvements
• Easy to transport with no moving parts or energy needs (no batteries required)
• USB drives are already installed on every computer making the data transfer easy

Disadvantages to USB flash drives

• The read/write function has limits and data can eventually be lost
• Not all USB drives have a write-protect function, which means that data can be easily written over without warning
• The drive can be easily lost, misplaced or stolen

USB Flash drives Today

USB flash drives can be used to store data repeatedly on the same drive. The amount of memory available on a single jump drive continues to increase. USB flash drives are also no longer merely utilitarian. Many come in designer packaging, designed to look like sushi, animals, or in general have other interesting designs. Many USB flash drives also offer encryption features for sensitive data; however, this is not a standard feature.