Installing applications and operating systems both on thumb drives, also known as USB drives, can be a risky endeavor. You may worry about data corruption and storage limits, while also questioning if the drive will last. Your hard drives are a critical component of your systems, and with internet speeds increasing, you want to be certain you are using your computers to their fullest extent. But they are a great option for installing your files and applications, allowing you to save space on your internal hard drive.
I use a thumb drive on my notebook computer for installing applications and storing files (along with My Documents). Yes, for most computer geeks today, it is called a laptop. However, I used a laptop for years before notebooks, and they were large (some larger than your lap), hot, very heavy, slow, with short battery lives, but the best available for the times.
Back to the topic, installing applications and files on thumb drives is safe and secure with Windows, in addition to being fast and reliable. They are also less expensive than internal hard drives, which are faster and usually larger, but prices for USB drives are good now.
You may actually install your Windows Operating System on a USB drive, but I would not suggest that and will not be covering that here. Stick with your internal drive for your OS. Using a thumb drive to install your Windows OS on can be very risky. If you don’t have the right setup or a technical background, you could be vulnerable to permanent data loss, corrupt files, and all sorts of other issues. However, as I stated earlier, installing applications and data on a thumb drive is fine.
Make sure you have a thumb drive with sufficient storage capacity; typically, 64 GB or more, but that is whatever you may need. This is the one I use and it is excellent, 512 GB and currently less than $40 (ghtech.site/512usb). Ensure that the thumb drive you are going to use is empty or contains data that you can safely delete, as the installation process will erase its contents.
The lifespan of a thumb drive can vary depending on several factors, including the quality of the drive, the frequency of use, and how often it is accessed. It goes without saying, “Your mileage may vary.” While thumb drives are generally reliable and last for years, it’s important to note that they have a limited number of read/write cycles. The lifespan of a thumb drive is often measured in terms of its endurance, or the total amount of data that can be written to the drive before it starts to experience failures. This endurance is typically specified by the manufacturer and can vary among different models and brands.
I have been using mine for at least three or four years, and another for more than that. They are both still running great, and I use them heavily. To play it safe, my procedure is that I copy the original drive to an identical thumb or larger USB drive. Then swap the backup for the original if you feel like you are having problems. So far, I have never needed a replacement.
Here are the steps on how to install a regular app on a thumb drive. Connect the thumb drive to your computer. Download the installer for the app that you want to install. Run the installer. When asked to verify the location where you want to install the application, choose the drive where your thumb drive is located. Check your “My PC” folder for that letter. Then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. The app will be installed on the thumb drive and added to your application list just like any app. Keep in mind, the thumb drive must have enough free space to accommodate the app and its files. You can install as many apps as you have room for on the USB drive.
Have fun as you try it out.
