Backup

Some value-added resellers are now using a flash drive as part of small-business turnkey solutions (e.g. point-of-sale systems). The drive is used as a backup medium: at the close of business each night, the drive is inserted, and a database backup is saved to the drive. Alternatively, the drive can be left inserted through the business day, and data regularly updated. In either case, the drive is removed at night and taken offsite.

This is simple for the end-user, and more likely to be done;
The drive is small and convenient, and more likely to be carried off-site for safety;
The drives are less fragile mechanically and magnetically than tapes;
The capacity is often large enough for several backup images of critical data;
And flash drives are cheaper than many other backup systems.

It is also easy to lose these small devices, and easy for people without a right to data to take illicit backups.