I know that it depends on the model of Bernina you get. On the 730, you can possibly use some of the ones you use from Best Buy and so forth. I do know that the 630 and 640 will ONLY use the Bernina USB stick. The cost of the stick is comparable to the ones you will buy from anywhere else, so why not save yourself the trouble and just get it from your dealer? I also know you can save 50 designs per folder on the stick and there are 6 folders on the stick, (300 designs).