traveling with USB drives

aten_vs_ra · Post by **aten_vs_ra** » 2008-05-25 12:49am

On Tuesday I'll be traveling from the US to London for a month. I'm all packed and ready to go, except that I have lingering question I just can't find the answer to. Since my google-fu is weak, could any of you more seasoned travelers tell me if my USB flash drives will work or if they'll just catch on fire. I've also got an MP3 player that recharges via a USB port and was wondering about it. It's probably a stupid question but I can't find any real definitive word on the issue.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2008-05-25 12:52am

As long as they just plug into USB ports to recharge, they'll be fine.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2008-05-25 12:53am

I don't see any reason why you would have problems, usb thumb drives are just a circuit board with a flash memory chip on it and a plastic shell, nothing really flammable or explosive. Also, a word of warning don't take your laptop with you, mail it over or something. Unless you want to run the risk of having it taken with no practical way of getting it back. US customs are pretty much famous for this now.

Starglider · Post by **Starglider** » 2008-05-25 05:09am

The voltage used by USB and for that matter all other computer interfaces is fixed by the (international) standard, it doesn't vary by country. Actually most computers can handle the full range of 100 to 250 volts mains power as well, though with older ones that may involve flicking a switch on the PSU.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-25 05:11am

More accurately, internally they use the same voltages because they're the same hardware all over the world. Only the PSU needs to be 'localised', as it produces the power required by the internal systems. USB is the same voltage everywhere in the world, obviously.

aten_vs_ra · Post by **aten_vs_ra** » 2008-05-25 11:19pm

Thanks for the info. I won't be carrying a laptop or anything, since the place I'm staying at has a computer lab, but it'll be nice to have some storage with me. Plus I wasn't going to bother bringing my MP3 player on the plane if I couldn't use it over there. That'll help the time go by, and help me sleep too.