Using USB Ports on a Cisco Router

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) storage feature enables certain models of Cisco routers to support USB flash drives. The USB flash feature provides an optional secondary storage capability and an additional boot device. Images, configurations, and other files can be copied to or from the Cisco USB flash memory with the same reliability as storing and retrieving files using the Compact Flash card. In addition, modular integrated services routers can boot any Cisco IOS Software image saved on USB flash memory. Ideally, USB flash can hold multiple copies of the Cisco IOS and multiple router configurations.

Use the dir command to view the contents of the USB flash drive, as shown in the figure.