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 metaphor of file manipulation within directories (the process of making a novel device look like a familiar device is also known as extension) and The USB mass storage specification does not require any particular file system to be used on conforming devices. Instead, it provides a simple interface to read and write sectors of data—much like the low-level interface used to access any hard drive—using the "SCSI transparent command set." Operating systems may treat the USB drive like a hard drive, and can format it with any file system they like. Creating multiple partitions is also possible



Referance:
http://en.wikipediawiki/Hard_disk_drive
http://en.wikipediawiki/USB_mass_storage_device_class
http://en.wikipediawiki/Universal_Serial_Bus