Do you have a data stick, key chain drive, jump drive, pen drive, thumb drive, USB flash drive, or any other name you may have heard of for a portable storage device? My preference is “thumb drive,” so that is what I will stick with here.
A thumb drive is a portable device that can store any type of data. It is used by inserting it into a USB port on your computer and loaded up with data/files. This is an inexpensive way to back up data which you may not want to take room on your computer. They are easy to use, and they are very affordable, which makes them the best case for any user because of their versatility and affordability.
The drive is small and light, measuring approximately 1.8″ long, 0.7″ wide, and 0.5″ tall with a weight of only 3 oz. This is about the size or smaller than your thumb; therefore, the name I prefer. Some are the size of your micro wireless mouse receiver. Well, how much data can they store? If we look at most phone photographs today and say they are around 3 MB it works out like this. The most common size of thumb drives used today have a capacity of 512 MB (about 170 photos) to 64 GB (21,500 photos). However, some high-end drives can have up to 8 TB (almost three million photos) and anywhere in between.
What can you put on them? Well, most any digital data/information that you can think of. You can copy files from one computer. Then unplug it, put it in another computer, or phone, and copy the files over. It takes only a few seconds to a minute or so. Some business use them as a business card with all of their details and product information with pictures and pricing included. They hand them out to prospective customers. I have seen some used to give potential employers a resumé. They may also boot up or install an operating system onto a computer that has no DVD or optical drive. Many law offices give them to clients with all their clients’ documentation on them to carry home in a tiny container.
Today, free storage offered by many cloud services may have reduced the use of them from previous times. But they are still very useful.
But I also want to introduce to you Portable Applications. There are many sources, but I recommend PortableApps.com, if you are interested in trying one out. I use it regularly and have for years. PortableApps.com state that they have over 450 Real Apps. When started from your thumb drive, a menu pops up allowing you to run, add, delete, or edit those apps with an easy-to-use interface. They look exactly like the full applications. At this time, they have apps sorted into ten categories. These include Games, Office products, Music, Utilities Video and more. They announced last December that they have had over one billion apps downloaded.
Besides all the other things you can do with one, I recommend you take your thumb drive you are not using for anything else and give PortableApps a whirl. It is easy and very useful. Useful for what, you ask? Sometimes, I help people repair or optimize their computers. I have all the apps I need to correct PC problems on my PortableApps. If I use someone’s computer, I can plug in my thumb drive, login to my bank account, email, anywhere, and not accidentally leave any of my login credentials behind. Everything stays on my thumb drive, not touching the PC. That is total security! My 64 GB drive fits on my keychain and cost less than $12.
You too can privately use email, login anywhere you need to, write a book, etc. on someone else’s computer leaving nothing personal behind.
