An opened USB Flash drive. The chip on the left (with Samsung) contains the flash memory. The chip on the right is the controller chip

Flash memory is a memory storage device for computers and electronics. It is most often used in devices like digital cameras, USB flash drives, and video games. It was developed in the 1980s from the earlier and similar EEPROM.

Flash memory is different from RAM because RAM is volatile (not permanent). When power is turned off, RAM loses all its data. Flash can keep its data intact with no power at all. A hard drive is also permanent (non-volatile) storage, but it is bulky and fragile. Flash memory is one kind of Non-volatile random-access memory. It is slower than RAM but faster than hard drives. It is often used in small electronics because of its small size and lack of moving parts.