Kingston Digital, the Flash memory affiliate of memory products provider Kingston Technology, has unveiled urDrive, a free pre-loaded application available on a variety of its DataTraveler USB Flash drives.

The company said urDrive, with a built-in photo viewer and MP3 player, transforms USB drives from passive storage to engaged, active storage, allowing consumers to access and organise their personal files, photos, music, games and videos.

Kingston urDrive business manager Craig Tilmont said USB drives have historically served as digital couriers, transporting data from one device to another, and Kingston is taking the lead in transforming the way consumers interact with those devices.

"urDrive enables consumers of all ages to make the USB Flash drive an interactive experience beyond just storing and transferring data between devices," Tilmont said.

urDrive enhances security on the PC with Norton PC Checkup, scans for virus infections (including spyware, worms and adware) and checks for slow performance and risks to identity and data.

urDrive further enhances the digital experience with the Maxthon 3 Web browser, which the company claims boasts startup and rendering speeds, and gives users a truly portable, safe browsing experience.

Norton Consumer Services general manager and vice president Kevin Chapman said integrating Norton PC Checkup with urDrive allows users to interact with content in an engaging way with an additional layer of security and performance analysis added to the experience.

"We are proud to be a part of this new evolution of active USB storage with Norton PC Checkup offering peace-of-mind to mobile users wherever they go," Chapman said.

The company said the free, pre-loaded application is available on its entry-level DataTraveler 101G2, 108 and 109 USB Flash drives, with capacities from 4GB to 32GB.