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USB FlashDrive Duplication and Custom USB Flash Drive Printing

January 27, 2009 | USB Flash and Flash Memory

With the explosive growth of USB pen drives and the growth of custom USB flash drives for giveaway promotional USB drives I thought it time to discuss some of the options for the “do it yourself” crowd.

To start,  consideration should be made as to the requirements of the job or jobs.  Recommending a capital expense in these challenging times really needs to be thought over well. For a one-off job outsourcing your custom USB flash pen drives might be the best solution.  This reduces the expense of purchasing the equipment and let’s the publisher focus on content and print design.  Typically the turn around time is 7 business days once the graphics have been accepted. The duplication is very quick but the printing is more involved.  If you are producing promotional USB drives that represent one or two campaigns then having them pre-printed may be the answer along with a USB flash duplicator.

Typical printing is accomplished using “pad printing” which uses a silicone rubber stamp for each color.  This is done by using an indirect offset (gravure) printing process that involves an image being transferred from the printing plate (cliché) via a silicone pad onto a substrate (surface to be printed).  Pad printing inks are “solvent-based” and require mixing with additives at the time of use. They typically dry to the touch in seconds although complete drying (cure) might take a substantially longer period of time.  The equipment and inks required for this process are not for the typical office environment.  The equipment is expensive and complicated and requires special mixing of the inks.

Teac USB Flash Drive Printer

An option to the pad printing process is to use a specialized thermal printer that applies a wax-based resin to the surface of the USB drive.  The Teac P-55C-ST USB Flash Drive Printer prints on the “cap” of a swivel type drive.  Currently

Swivel USB Drive for Teac-P55C-ST

this is the only style USB flashdrive that can be printed with the Teac P-55 thermal re-transfer printer.

Duplication of data on USB drives is performed by a specialized duplicator that has ports for each drive and a ‘master’ slot for the drive being copied depending on the system configuration. Some duplicators are “standalone” and some are “PC-attached”.  Standalone USB flash duplicators rely on a built in solid state controller that manages the duplication data transfer.  PC attached USB duplicators use the computer’s USB port or hard drive to transfer data and manage the duplication verification process.  Standalone is great for class room applications and after presentation file transfers.

PC based systems give you the ultimate control to manage your data transfer and ability to change files on the fly. Which ever system one chooses the power to duplicate to a large segment of USB drives certainly beats the alternatives.

USB duplicators range from 7 ports up to 118 port USB duplicator

There is a wide range of capacity among USB flash duplicators but one thing is for certain: Your needs for capacity will increase.  Brands to consider? CD Dimensions,  Microboards Technology,  Nexcopy,  MF Digital and Teac USB flash duplicators.  Flash duplication represents a new era of physical data distribution.