Sometimes your data doesn’t “get deleted” — you just lose the door used for reaching it.

Imagine you’ve rented a PO box for years. Important mail goes there. Contracts. Receipts. Records you don’t need every day, but absolutely rely on when they matter. You pay the fee. You follow the rules. Everything works as expected.

Then one day, the mail stops. Not because nothing was sent — but because the post office location quietly closed. No notice. No forwarding. No explanation. The box still exists somewhere, but you have no way to reach it. You don’t know if your mail was returned, destroyed, or is sitting untouched in a locked room.

In a world where everything can be edited, one courier carries the last device that refuses to change.

Does Nutrafol Work?

This article is not written to criticize Nutrafol as a company, nor to tell anyone what they should or should not buy. It is written from the perspective of a consumer who used Nutrafol Men alongside the Nutrafol Men DHT Inhibitor consistently for over one year, at a combined cost of roughly $120 per month, and did not experience any measurable or meaningful improvement in hair density, regrowth, or reduced thinning.

When a product requires long-term use and a significant financial commitment, it is reasonable to ask what the active mechanism actually is — and whether the expected outcome aligns with how the product works biologically. That question matters in any industry, whether the product is software, hardware, or a health-related supplement.

At GetUSB.info, our approach is not new. Our work has always focused on explaining how technology actually functions beneath the surface — whether that is USB flash drive controllers, NAND memory behavior, data verification, or professional duplication systems. We routinely separate marketing claims from measurable behavior and documented mechanisms. Applying that same standard of evaluation to an off-topic consumer product may seem unusual, but the underlying principle is identical: if the active mechanism is unclear or indirect, expectations should be adjusted accordingly.

A practical look at battery life, power delivery, and why USB charging changes the equation.

AA and AAA batteries quietly power a surprising amount of modern life. From TV remotes and flashlights to wireless keyboards, toys, and test equipment, these small cells sit behind countless everyday tasks. For decades, disposable alkaline batteries were the default choice. You bought a pack, used them until they died, then tossed them in a drawer or the trash and bought more.

That habit made sense when rechargeables were inconvenient, slow, and unreliable. But that era is over. Today’s rechargeable AA and AAA batteries — especially those that charge directly over USB — have fundamentally changed how practical reusable power can be.

To understand why, it helps to break the discussion into two parts: the difference between AA and AAA sizes, and the difference between disposable and rechargeable chemistry.

AA and AAA batteries share the same basic voltage class, but they are not equal. AA batteries are physically larger, which means they can store more energy. A typical AA disposable battery can hold roughly two to three times the capacity of a AAA battery. In real terms, this means an AA battery usually lasts much longer than a AAA battery in the same type of device.

Voltage, however, tells only part of the story. Disposable alkaline batteries start at about 1.5 volts, but their voltage steadily drops as they discharge. Rechargeable NiMH batteries are rated at about 1.2 volts, which sounds worse on paper but behaves very differently in practice. Rechargeables tend to deliver steadier voltage for most of their discharge cycle, while alkalines slowly fade.

This difference matters because many modern devices care more about voltage stability than peak voltage. A rechargeable battery may appear “weaker” by the numbers, but in moderate- to high-drain devices, it often delivers more usable energy before the device shuts down.

A practical, printable checklist to help you decide whether running your own password manager makes sense for your habits—not your optimism.

Password managers have moved from “nice to have” to “you really should be using one.” Most of us carry dozens (or hundreds) of logins across work, banking, shopping, utilities, and personal accounts. The problem isn’t that people don’t care about security. The problem is that humans are terrible at managing unique, strong passwords at scale. We reuse passwords. We choose passwords that feel memorable. We fall for a convincing phishing page once in a while. A password manager is one of the few tools that actually bends the odds in your favor: it generates strong passwords, stores them safely, and fills them reliably so you don’t have to rely on memory.

The current frustration is that many password managers keep their most useful features behind a paywall. Even good, respected options do it. Bitwarden is often held up as the king of open-source password managers, and it deserves the praise: the core product is excellent and the company pricing is fair. But “fair” isn’t the same as “free.” A common example is integrated authenticator features (Time-based One-Time Passwords, or TOTP) being part of a paid tier. That leads to a very tempting idea: if the software is open-source, can you run the whole thing yourself and get the best of both worlds?

That’s where the self-hosting trend comes in. The promise is simple: instead of syncing your encrypted password vault to a company’s infrastructure, you run your own private server and your devices sync to that. You keep the familiar apps and browser extensions, but the “cloud” is your hardware. Some people do this on a small always-on computer like a Raspberry Pi, often using Docker to run the password server cleanly and repeatably. The appeal is real: fewer third-party dependencies, more control, and sometimes fewer ongoing fees.

The part that gets glossed over is what you are actually trading. Hosted password managers don’t charge you only for a feature checkbox. They charge you for operations: uptime, updates, backups, monitoring, redundancy, and a safety net when things break. Self-hosting is not primarily a money-saving hack. It’s a decision to become your own tiny IT department for one of the most important systems in your life. That can be a great fit for the right person and a quiet disaster for everyone else.

If you’ve been around GetUSB long enough, you already know the bigger theme here: control and custody. We’ve written about security hardware, authentication ideas, and the “lock down” mindset for years. For example, our older posts touch on security and control concepts in different forms—like locking strategies (Crack Down on Your Lock Down) and authentication tokens (Network Multi-User Security via USB Token). A password manager is different technology, but the same question keeps showing up: do you want to outsource critical trust to a provider, or keep it under your roof?

What “Self-Hosting” a Password Manager Actually Means

A modern password manager is really two things: the client apps (browser extension, mobile app, desktop app) and the backend service that stores and syncs your encrypted vault. In a hosted model, the provider runs the backend for you. In a self-hosted model, you run it. Your client apps still do the heavy lifting: they encrypt the vault locally and decrypt it locally. The server mainly stores encrypted blobs and coordinates syncing across devices.

Every year around this time, we look back at what caught our attention, what surprised us, and what quietly reshaped how we think about USB, storage, and the way data moves through our lives.

So instead of a traditional holiday post, we took inspiration from a familiar tune and reflected on twelve ideas that stood out across our recent articles — the stories, lessons, and oddities that made this year interesting.

Here’s our take on The 12 Days of Christmas, GetUSB-style.

On the First Day of Christmas

One reminder that not all flash memory is created equal.
Performance numbers look great on paper — reliability is earned over time.

On the Second Day of Christmas

Two very different meanings of “fast.”
Burst speed is easy. Sustained performance under real workloads is not.

On the Third Day of Christmas

Three ways USB still surprises us.
From unexpected form factors to creative use cases, this interface keeps evolving.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas

Four reasons physical media still matters.
Offline storage, controlled distribution, predictable behavior, and longevity.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas

Five failure points nobody talks about.
Controllers, NAND quality, firmware, power loss, and human behavior.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas

Six devices pretending to be something else.
USB gadgets that blur the line between storage, security, and novelty.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas

Seven lessons learned from broken flash drives.
Most data loss stories start small — and end the same way.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas

Eight ways USB shows up where you don’t expect it.
Cars, medical devices, cameras, kiosks, toys, tools, and places you’d never guess.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas

Nine myths about copy protection.
Security isn’t a checkbox — it’s a design decision.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas

Ten years of watching CDs quietly disappear.
And USB step in — not loudly, but effectively.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas

Eleven examples of USB doing exactly what it promised.
Simple, universal, and still relevant decades later.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

Twelve months of stories worth sharing.
From clever ideas to cautionary tales — all part of the same ecosystem.

A Final Note

Thank you for reading, bookmarking, sharing, and occasionally questioning what we publish. GetUSB.info exists because people still care about how technology actually behaves — not just how it’s marketed.

If you’re new here or just browsing again over the holidays, you can always start at the homepage and wander from there:

https://www.getusb.info/

From all of us,
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
We’ll see you next year — same port, same curiosity.

Scientists are experimenting with biological systems as a new medium for long-term data storage

Every few years, someone declares that we’re “running out of storage.” Scientists tend to respond the same way every time: Fine — we’ll just store data in glass… or DNA… or a living brain.

And no, they’re not joking.

Once you step outside the familiar world of silicon and NAND flash, data storage stops looking like chips and circuit boards and starts looking like something pulled from a biology lab, a physics experiment, or a science-fiction novel. What’s striking is that none of this is theoretical hand-waving. In one form or another, every idea you’re about to read has already been demonstrated in real labs—often working far better than intuition would suggest.

Let’s start with one of the least intuitive ideas that, once you sit with it, actually makes a lot of sense: DNA.

DNA already stores information. That’s literally its job. Every cell in your body carries a complete instruction manual for building you, written in a four-letter code. Scientists eventually realized that if biology can store that much information so densely and reliably, maybe we can piggyback on the same system.

By translating binary data into combinations of A, C, G, and T, researchers have already stored books, images, movies, and even entire operating systems inside synthetic DNA strands. The density is absurd. A single gram of DNA could theoretically hold hundreds of petabytes of data. Stored correctly, it could last thousands of years.

The catch, of course, is speed. Writing and reading DNA is slow and expensive, so this isn’t replacing your SSD anytime soon. But as a long-term archive, DNA starts to look less like a novelty and more like a biological vault.

Once you accept that molecules themselves can store data, proteins are the next logical step—and this is where things start getting strange.

Proteins don’t just sit there; they fold. The exact way a protein folds determines how it behaves, and in some cases, that folding can change in stable, repeatable ways. Scientists have engineered proteins that flip between multiple shapes, with each shape representing a different data state. In effect, a single molecule becomes a microscopic switch.

Cells already use this trick to “remember” past signals, so researchers are essentially hijacking biology’s own memory system. This idea isn’t even new. Nearly two decades ago, experiments were already showing how biological proteins could be used to store staggering amounts of data, long before “bio-storage” became a buzzword.

It works, but it’s fragile. Temperature, chemistry, and time all interfere. Still, the notion that information can be stored in the way a molecule curls up on itself is one of those ideas that tends to stick in your brain.

Encryption protects access to data, but it doesn’t guarantee the data hasn’t changed

When people talk about USB security, encryption usually comes up first. And for good reason. If a drive is lost or stolen, encryption protects the data from being read by someone who shouldn’t have it.

But encryption answers only one question: Can someone read what’s on the drive if they get it?

It doesn’t answer another question that often matters just as much: Can the contents of the drive be changed at all?

That distinction gets overlooked, and in many environments, it’s the more important one.

Encryption protects data. Read-only protects trust.

A writable USB drive is mutable by nature. Files can be modified, added, replaced, or removed. That’s true whether the data is encrypted or not. Once a drive is unlocked, the system assumes change is allowed.

Read-only media changes the model entirely. Instead of asking who is allowed to modify the data, it removes modification from the equation in the first place. The device becomes a reference, not a workspace.

That difference shows up clearly when you look at how USB drives are actually used in the real world.

Healthcare: stopping problems before they start

In healthcare environments, the fear isn’t just data theft. It’s contamination.

Malware doesn’t need permission to copy itself onto writable media. If a USB drive can accept new data, it can accept the wrong data. A drive used on one system can quietly become a carrier to the next.

Encryption doesn’t prevent that. Once a drive is writable, the system treats it like any other storage device.

Read-only USB media removes that pathway. Nothing new can be written to the device unless someone intentionally allows it. That means fewer opportunities for accidental infection, fewer unknown variables, and fewer assumptions about where the drive has been.

If you want the deeper “how it works” version, this Lock License write-up is a good reference: new flash drive counters USB cyber threats.

Legal: preserving integrity matters more than secrecy

Legal environments care deeply about authenticity. Evidence, testimony, video files, transcripts, and supporting documents must remain exactly as they were when produced.

Encryption can protect those files during transport, but it doesn’t guarantee they haven’t been altered. A writable drive introduces doubt, even if no one intended to change anything.

Read-only media establishes a stronger position: the contents are fixed. The device itself enforces that rule. When material passes between parties who may not trust each other, that immutability becomes part of the chain of custody.

In legal disputes, it’s often not enough for data to be secure. It has to be defensible.

Manufacturing and service environments: controlling the source of truth

Manufacturers, especially in automotive and industrial settings, rely on accurate instructions, firmware, service manuals, and calibration data. Those files aren’t just reference material — they directly affect safety and performance.

A writable USB drive introduces risk. Instructions can be altered, overwritten, or replaced, intentionally or accidentally. Over time, different versions start circulating, and no one is quite sure which one is authoritative.

Read-only media helps enforce a single source of truth. The device delivers information, not a place to store new information. That separation reduces errors and limits the opportunity for unauthorized changes.

If you’re coming from the “old-school write-protect switch” world, here’s a practical explainer on the modern replacement approach: USB write protect switch replaced with better technology.

Public works and infrastructure: fewer assumptions, fewer failures

Public works organizations often work with field equipment, control systems, and infrastructure assets that aren’t easily isolated or replaced. USB drives are commonly used to move configuration files, logs, or updates between systems.

The challenge isn’t just security — it’s reliability. When devices move between unknown systems, assumptions break down quickly. A writable drive carries the history of everywhere it’s been.

Read-only media limits that history. The device behaves predictably every time it’s connected. That consistency matters when systems control physical infrastructure rather than office software.

For industrial and critical environments, this is also worth a look: industrial control system USB flash drive designed for ICS security.

The overlooked question

Encryption remains important. There are many cases where it’s absolutely necessary.

But encryption answers only one part of the problem. Read-only answers a different one — whether the data can change at all.

In many environments, especially those dealing with safety, compliance, evidence, or critical systems, immutability matters as much as confidentiality.

Put simply:
Encryption protects data after something goes wrong.
Read-only helps prevent the problem in the first place.

That’s why, in practice, USB read-only often matters more than encryption.

How Many USB Flash Drive PCBs Could You Make From the Monumental Nugget of 1869?

If you crack open a USB flash drive hoping to find treasure, you’ll be disappointed—but not entirely wrong. There is gold in there. Not much, not enough to make you rich, and certainly not worth firing up a smelter in your garage. But a typical USB PCB does contain tiny amounts of gold in its connector plating and, in some cases, inside microscopic bond wires. How tiny? Most USB boards carry somewhere around 1–5 milligrams of gold—less than what sticks to your fingers after eating a Dorito.

Manufacturers use gold because it’s solder-friendly, corrosion-resistant, and makes a perfect electrical contact. Even the thinnest “gold flash” layer on connector pins can survive years of plugging and unplugging. But for recycling? Forget it. You’d need thousands of dead USB drives just to make a visible speck of gold, and tens of thousands to produce anything resembling a nugget. Still, this tiny bit of gold creates a fun thought experiment: what if we went all the way in the opposite direction? What if we took one of the largest gold nuggets ever found and asked how many USB sticks we could make from it?

That brings us to the legendary Monumental Nugget of 1869, the crown jewel of the California Gold Rush’s late years.

A tiny design decision in 1996 didn’t just annoy us — it reshaped tech culture, product adoption, and billions of daily interactions.

This post was drafted on a napkin somewhere between a refill and a revelation.

Let me paint you a picture. It’s 1996. Somewhere in a conference room filled with beige computers and men wearing pleated khakis, a group of engineers is finalizing the design for a new kind of cable called USB.

And then… it happens.

Someone says, “Should we make it work both ways?” Someone else replies, “Nah, people will figure it out.”

That’s it. That was the moment. That was the butterfly wing flap that doomed humanity to decades of flipping a plug three times before it fits.

Fast-forward to today. Seven billion people have lived through the USB Shuffle:

1. Try to plug it in. Doesn’t fit.
2. Flip it. Still doesn’t fit.
3. Flip it back. Suddenly works, because the universe is mocking you.

If you haven’t cursed under your breath during step two, congratulations — you’re either lying or, I don’t know, you use wireless everything and hate productivity.

The Cost of the USB Struggle: Humanity’s Dumbest Time Sink

Let’s talk impact. Because this isn’t just inconvenience. This is a global time suck of biblical proportions.

Quick napkin math:

• Average person plugs in a USB 2× a day
• Each attempt wastes 3–5 seconds of flipping, inspecting, and questioning your life choices
• Multiply by 3+ billion USB users worldwide

We’re looking at millions of hours of collective human existence lost to a tiny, avoidable design flaw.

Think about that. We could’ve cured something. We could’ve written more books. We could’ve finally understood taxes. But no — we were busy rotating a rectangle like chimps trying to solve a puzzle box.

If USB Had Been Reversible From Day One

IKEA has issued a recall for thousands of its ASKSTORM 40W USB Chargers in the United States and Canada due to potential burn and electric shock hazards. The recall, prompted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, addresses concerns that the chargers’ cables may break or become damaged over time, posing risks to users.

Internationally, there have been 17 reported incidents related to these chargers, including five instances of burns and four reports of electrical shock. However, no such incidents have been reported in the United States.

These gray chargers, bearing model number ICPSW5-40-1, were sold both online and in IKEA stores between April 2020 and December 2023.

Contact the IKEA recall center to find out how to swap out the product or receive a refund for the purchase.

In its journey to becoming a household name, IKEA has a rich history that dates back to 1943 when founder Ingvar Kamprad started selling pens, wallets, and other goods. The company’s name is an acronym formed from Ingvar Kamprad’s initials along with those of the farm where he grew up (Elmtaryd) and the nearby village (Agunnaryd) in Sweden. From these humble beginnings, IKEA gradually evolved, introducing its first furniture piece in 1947 and opening its first store in 1958. Over the decades, IKEA’s innovative approach to design, affordability, and sustainability has propelled it to global success, making it a widely recognized brand worldwide.

CORSAIR®, known for high-performance gaming peripherals and PC components, has introduced the CORSAIR Platform:6, a modular desk designed for gamers, creators, and professionals who want a more adaptable and ergonomic workspace.

Backed by decades of experience in desktop hardware and accessories, CORSAIR and its subsidiary Elgato designed the Platform:6 to reflect how people actually use modern workstations. The desk combines premium materials, extensive customization options, and practical features such as adjustable height, structured cable management, and modular accessories. The result is a workstation designed to evolve alongside its user.

The Platform:6 spans six feet in width and can be expanded further to support high-end gaming systems, streaming gear, and professional equipment. Users can choose from different configurations that include motorized height adjustment, multiple surface materials, and a flexible rail system. Desk configurations can be built through CORSAIR’s online configurator or selected from pre-built bundles.

At the core of the Platform:6 design is a modular rail system built around an aluminum T-channel structure. This system supports a wide range of accessories, including both CORSAIR components and third-party attachments. CORSAIR also encourages experimentation by supporting custom 3D-printed accessories, giving users freedom to tailor their setup beyond off-the-shelf parts.

For users who value ergonomics, select versions of the Platform:6 include dual electric motors for smooth height adjustment. The controller features an LCD display and memory presets for storing preferred positions. Surface options include dark walnut-stained rubberwood and durable black laminate, offering both visual and practical flexibility.

Practical details are integrated throughout the design. Included dual monitor arms support multi-display setups, while the CORSAIR RapidRoute cable management tray hides cables and power strips. An integrated storage cubby includes USB Type-A and USB Type-C charging ports, helping keep frequently used devices within reach without cluttering the desktop.

Expandability is the defining idea behind the Platform:6. Side extensions can be added to increase surface area, and optional hanging pegboards allow further organization. The Elgato Multi Frame, a top-mounted pegboard designed specifically for the Platform:6, adds more mounting flexibility for accessories. Adapters also allow Elgato Multi-Mount and Flex Arm products to integrate cleanly into the desk’s rail system.

The Platform:6 Creator Edition represents the flagship configuration, combining adjustable height with a rubberwood surface and full modular capability. With online customization and modular expansion at its core, the Platform:6 is positioned as a long-term workspace solution rather than a fixed piece of furniture.