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I have a problem with a Blu ray disk I bought.

I talked to a Sony technician who advised me to plug a "USB Flash Memory Stick" into the Blu-ray player. Is this something specific? Is there a difference between the following two?

  • "USB Flash Drive"
  • "USB Flash Memory"

When I go to Curry's or other sites that sell USB Sticks, they only talk about "USB Flash Drives".

I've been in computing for many years and know the basics, but "memory" and "drive" are different things to me.

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    But not very different.
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented Nov 30, 2011 at 11:29
  • Are you talking about a Blu Ray player? I assumed so. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
    – slhck
    Commented Nov 30, 2011 at 11:38
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    Technically, a USB Flash Drive contains flash memory, but a lot of people who aren't obsessed with grammar use them interchangeably.
    – TimothyAWiseman
    Commented Nov 30, 2011 at 18:11

2 Answers 2

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"Flash memory" is the physical storage type used inside SSD drives, memory cards, USB flash drives and other media – a reprogrammable storage chip.

When said by a Sony technician, "Memory Stick" might refer to Sony's memory card format. However, these cards do not have USB connectors, so it's more likely that the technician just meant a generic USB flash drive (which are often called "sticks" due to their appearance). In this case, "Flash memory stick" would just mean a stick-like device containing Flash memory.

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Flash drive, memory stick, flash memory etc are all used to refer to the same thing. A chunk of flash based memory which presents itself (usually) as a hard drive to your computer.

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