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USB implements connections to storage devices using a set of standards called the USB mass storage device class (referred to as MSC or UMS). This was initially intended for traditional magnetic and optical drives, but has been extended to support a wide variety of devices, particularly flash drives. This generality is because many systems can be controlled with the familiar idiom of file manipulation within directories (The process of making a novel device look like a familiar device is also known as extension).
Though most newer computers are capable of booting off USB Mass Storage devices, USB is not intended to be a primary bus for a computer's internal storage: buses such as ATA (IDE), Serial ATA (SATA), and SCSI fulfill that role. However, USB has one important advantage in that it is possible to install and remove devices without opening the computer case, making it useful for external drives. Originally conceived and still used today for optical storage devices (CD-RW drives, DVD drives, etc.), a number of manufacturers offer external portable USB hard drives, or empty enclosures for drives, that offer performance comparable to internal drives. These external drives usually contain a translating device that interfaces a drive of conventional technology (IDE, ATA, SATA, ATAPI, or even SCSI) to a USB port. Functionally, the drive appears to the user just like an internal drive. Other competing standards that allow for external connectivity are eSATA and FireWire.
Another use for USB Mass Storage devices is the portable running of software applications without the need of installation on the host computer, eg. Web Browser, VoIP, etc.
