• Windows Vista can read the information on a USB flash drive.usb flash drive image by Bosko Martinovic from Fotolia.com
  
  When Windows 95 first burst onto the scene, one of its most touted features was its ability to read floppy diskettes and display their contents with a visual interface. Flash-forward almost 15 years, and users are demanding much more from their operating systems. The Windows Vista operating system can read and display information from many types of flash memory, all of which are very common.
  
  

USB Memory Stick

• Perhaps the most popular form of flash memory that Windows Vista can read is the USB memory stick or drive. This form of flash memory uses the standard USB interface to quickly read and write data. Because of its speed and customizable design, the USB drive has evolved to include storage capacities in excess of 32GB. This is the highest capacity of any type of flash memory. Windows Vista can also use USB memory sticks to increase its own virtual memory.
  
  

SD Cards

• The SD card format is another form of flash memory, and it is generally used in computers as a way to transfer files from another device. Because of their small size, SD cards are frequently used in portable electronics, such as digital cameras, personal media players and handheld video game consoles. Windows Vista can transfer files to SD cards (to be used in other devices) or retrieve files from SD cards (like pictures). SD cards can also be used as extra storage, but this is not recommended due to the small size of SD cards.
  
  

Memory Stick

• The Memory Stick, much like an SD card, is generally used in Windows Vista in conjunction with other devices. The Memory Stick format is a proprietary format belonging to Sony and is used in Sony music devices, Cyber-Shot cameras and the PSP game console. Vista can access this type of flash memory to view and transfer content from the stick to the computer (and vice versa). The Memory Stick has a slightly bigger structure than an SD card and also comes with an adapter to make it easily read by regular memory card ports.