Portable storage – are flash memories frequently used in place of floppy disks or small-capacity hard drives in portable computers and devices?

Introduction / Context:
Flash memory revolutionized portable storage by providing nonvolatile, shock-resistant, low-power alternatives to legacy magnetic media. This item asks whether flash has commonly replaced floppies and small hard drives in portable contexts such as laptops, handhelds, and embedded systems.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Flash includes NAND/NOR technologies, SD cards, USB drives, and SSDs.
• Target comparison: floppy disks and low-capacity HDDs historically used in portables.
• Criteria: practicality, prevalence, and typical usage scenarios.

Concept / Approach:
Flash is nonvolatile and has no moving parts, offering superior durability and power efficiency for mobile use. As capacities increased and cost/GB fell, flash devices displaced floppies for file transfer and small HDDs for system storage (solid-state drives). Therefore, the statement reflects mainstream practice across decades of portable computing evolution.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
Market trends: laptops commonly ship with SSDs; removable flash (SD/USB) supplanted floppies for transfer. Embedded devices store firmware on NOR/NAND flash rather than micro-HDDs.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Read-only limitation is false; flash is rewritable. “Only below 128 MB” is outdated. Magnetic shielding is irrelevant to solid-state flash.

Common Pitfalls:
Assuming flash is always slower than HDDs; modern SSDs outperform small HDDs on latency and throughput for typical workloads.

Final Answer:
Correct