Moore’s Law on USB Devices

Applying Moore’s Law to USB devices is proof of the law itself. It is illogical to conclude the application of the law as evidence, but the proof is in the pudding. The origins of the USB devices is a bit hazy, with four claimants to the patent of USB devices, but the first commercially available USB stick in 2000 had the capacity of eight megabytes. Even then, it was already a huge leap, a 500% increase in the capacity of the latest floppy disks.

That was only in the year 2000. Today, that same technology has developed more than exponentially, with 2011 probably ending with USB devices whether they are promotional usb flash drives or personalised usb sticks, with a capacity of 2 terabytes, or 262,144 times the largest capacity just 11 years ago. Moore’s Law is even on the conservative estimate – in layman’s terms, the law predicts a doubling of technology every two years or so. But with USB devices, plain or printed usb drives, the rate of increase has even surpassed the predictions of Moore’s Law, in a sense proving and disproving the logic behind the Law.

Because the basic form of a USB device has generally been the same, there is no way to know the capacity of promotional usb sticks beforehand, and the best way to know it is to use it. The recommendation has been to use and test a printed USB stick in the store where you buy it, although warranties and guarantees apply, in any case. Still, if you are buying the latest USB device with a capacity in the gigabyte range, it is better to be safe than sorry.