The USB storage devices in 2010 can store up to 256 GB with constant improvisation in size and capacity as per price. Some USB devices can do 1 million rewrite and erase cycles and can retain data up to a 10-year data retention cycle. The purpose of USB flash drives is same as that of a floppy disk, but they are smaller in size, faster in working and have thousands of times more capacity.

The USB drives are more reliable because of their lack of their stationary working parts (non moving parts). The floppy disks were used till 2005 in desktops and laptops but were beginning to be replaced by USB ports. The flash drives make use of the Universal Serial Bus mass storage standard, which is supported by operating systems such as Linux, Windows, UNIX, Linux, and MAC OS. The flash drives with USB 2.0 set up can transfer data much faster, store more data than a optical disc drive and can be used by other systems like PlayStation 3.

In the USB drives there is no mechanical movement and they are mechanically very robust. The term drive is used because the computers use similar system commands for the process of reading and writing in the USB drive, but the storage device appears to the computer’s OS and to its user interface as a another drive.

The Universal Serial Bus consists of a USB connector and a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) which has the circuit elements. The flash drive is electrically insulated, it is also protected by a plastic case or a metal shielding or even a rubberized shell which can be carried inside a pocket. The Universal Serial Bus connector can be shielded by a removable cap or it can also left alone since it is unlikely to get damaged if not protected.

In most of the Universal Serial Buses a standard type-A USB connection is used, which allows plug and play into a serial port on a computer, even interfaces for other drives are also available. The power supply to the USB flash drives is given from the computer’s USB connection and there is no need for a battery.

Linux is an OS (Operating System) that can be used on a wide variety of computer systems ranging from devices like cell phones, smart phone’s and watches. They can be interfaced to work in mainframes and supercomputers as well. The Linux OS is primarily known for its use in servers. The Linux based system can be controlled by the user using the command line interface.

They can also make use of the graphical user interface. In embedded systems the controls are attached to the associated hardware. In desktop systems the mode that is widely used is the GUI or the graphic user interface. The main variation between a Linux OS and other popular operating systems is that the Linux kernel and other equipments used in the Linux computers are free and are an open source software.

These features are available in other OS (operating systems) but Linux OS are widely used. The most commonly used free software license in the Linux is a form of copy left. It can be used for the Linux kernel and several other equipments. The Linux OS based transactions are mainly used by developers for inter operability with other operating systems such as the windows, MAC OS etc. The Linux Operating System can be used with the ANSI, SUS, POSIX and ISO standards but till date only POSIX system has been certified by the Linux Operating Systems.

Some software projects are developed in a cooperative fashion and are usually independent of each other. In the Linux OS, the CLI is used only for the process of automation of repeating or slow tasks. The CLI also provide very simple inter-process communication. In a Linux desktop a terminal emulator graphical program is used to access the CLI.

To format a Universal Serial Bus using Linux , the following steps are to be followed:
Step 1: Find the USB partitions name.
To find the USB partition name, type the following command :
# fdisk -l
Step 2: Formatting the selected partition.
After identifying the partition name, the following command is typed to format the Universal Serial Bus in the Linux OS:
# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1
In order to format as VFAT/FAT32 file system type the command:
# mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1
It is always better to refer the manual if you are struck up with the procedure in between.