Has anyone opened up a commodity USB flash drive?
Obviously there is a customized USB-capable microcontroller in there. What I'm wondering is if there is a seperate flash memory chip with a standard interface that could be scavenged for use in projects (since implementing the _host_ side of USB in a micro is sadly unrealistic at present).
Yes, it's easy to talk to compact flash and similar cards and the prices aren't that different. But curiousity is a factor.
I have not opened one up (don't even own one at the moment) but here's a chip I ran across earlier today:
I suspect this is typical- an ASIC with just about everything but memory, plus standard flash memory plus a few other parts.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
-- "it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
I think some of them use Atmel DataFlash like at64DBxxxx type chips.
Ken
Yes, NAND flash is used there.
Vadim
The USB Flash devices I have opened had at least 2 chips. One the controller which connect directly to the USB connector, and the others standard TSSOP flash devices. I suspect that the controller chip might have some sort of configuration which adapts it for the specific flash devices used.
Regards Anton Erasmus
Plenty of detail here:
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