USB stands for Universal Serial Bus and was first rolled out on new PC's back in November 1995. It wasn't until 1998 and the release of the USB 1.1 standard that USB really started to take off. Since this time USB has grown to be one of the most popular ways of connecting devices to your computer.

To truly appreciate how great USB is - you only have to look back at what was around before the great connector. People using computers pre 1995 were connecting their printers, scanners and game controllers via Serial, Parallel and SCSI ports which are comparatively very slow and required at least a degree in computer science to install!

People new to computers at that time had a serious learning curve to get peripherals connected and working, and to make things worse the more devices you had the more complex the install process became.With USB, these days it's so much easier, you can simply plug in your "USB mini desktop aquarium" (yes it does actually exist!) and it will practically install itself without the worry of your Printer, Scanner, Mouse or USB Pen Drive failing as a result of the install.

The simplicity of installation for modern USB devices, coupled with it's superior data speed performance has allowed a whole range of USB peripherals and gadgets to venture on to the market. From the fairly useless USB disco ball to USB Hard Drives, USB Pen Drives, Graphics Tablets, USB telephones (coming soon to Mousehouse) - the list goes on and on.

Besides the ability for manufacturers to easily support a variety of USB devices, a large part of the versatility of USB is down to the fact that a USB socket is able to provide a small amount of power to whatever is plugged into it, so devices that require a small amount of power can be entirely powered by the USB socket alone, using a standard USB cable. USB 2.0 finalised in 2001, transfers data at 480Mbps, (megabits per second) about 40X times faster than USB1.1, which operates at just 12Mbps. USB 2.0 is backwards compatible with USB 1.1 and vice versa but will only operate at USB 1.1 speed.

More USB technologies are soon to make an apperance, taking the USB conncetivity revolution even further. Currently emerging technologies such as "USB On The Go" is set to be released soon on mobile devices, allowing a USB device to connect to another USB device without the need for a computer to act as a go between. Next-generation consumer electronic devices will also be supporting "Wireless USB" another exciting technology allowing USB devices to connect wirelessly.

Currently however, there is a common problem that people face when using todays USB storage devices, such as USB Pen Drives, USB Hard Drives and USB Memory Card Readers. Many people believe it is perfectly safe to just pull out a USB device from their computer once they have finished with the USB device. This can however, potentially cause corruption and data loss on a USB storage device.

It's always good practice to "Safely Remove Hardware" before removing a USB Device. In Windows XP or Windows 2000, it's simply a case of double clicking on the "Remove Hardware" icon (circled below), in the system tray and then clicking on the stop button. Your computer should then tell you that it's "Now safe to remove the USB Hardware". If a message is returned from your computer saying "USB Device cannot be stopped now", then you may need to close any files being accessed by your computer from the USB Device.

By "Safely Removing Hardware" before unplugging USB devices, you are effectively asking the computer if it is safe to remove the USB device first. This process is very important as once you "Safely Remove Hardware" the computer is able to prepare the USB device to be removed. The computer will check that any files being accessed by the USB device are saved and not in use, then power to the USB device is turned off. Only then is the USB Device safe to be removed from your computer. If this procedure is not followed when removing USB Storage Devices, not only are you at risk of loosing data stored on the USB Device, but also damaging the device itself and this damage would not be covered under the warranty of the device.

Article by Iggy Quazi director of Ecommerce business Mouse2House based in Essex, England stocking a wide range of digital imaging devices. For more info see http://www.mouse2house.co.uk for the latest digital media products.