Portable USB Thumb Drives
Submitted by bigthumb on Sat, 2006-07-08 14:57.A portable thumb drive is a memory stick with an application platform to incorporate a suite of programs. The portable thumb drive platform makes it possible to work on non-resident PCs by taking applications and files with you, operating them from the portable thumb drive itself. This eliminates the need to install the applications on the host PC. A portable thumb drive is essentially a portable work drive.
All versions of Windows XP automatically recognize a portable thumb drive as soon as it is plugged in, while later versions of Windows 2000 might also be compatible. Windows assigns the drive two drive letters. The first drive letter is for a read-only portion of the drive while the second is for the remainder of the drive. The platform code tells Windows to treat the read-only portion as a CD-ROM, allowing the portable thumb drive to use AutoPlay to execute an embedded access menu similar to the Windows Start menu. From here, an icon is placed in the system tray. The user clicks on the icon to access the portable thumb drive menu of applications and utilities.
BeCrypt to release secure operating system for USB Drives
Submitted by bigthumb on Tue, 2007-04-17 19:06.A secure operating system that can be carried around on a flash drive will be unveiled at the Infosecurity conference in London later this month.
Trusted Client is an encrypted operating system that its maker, BeCrypt, claims will "provide a trusted environment on an untrusted host". According to chief executive David Holman, the system has "already been piloted at a major UK government site".
Toshiba's new 200GB USB Drive
Submitted by bigthumb on Tue, 2007-04-17 19:04.Toshiba had unveiled a new 200GB portable USB hard drive available this week.
Toshiba Corp. will now begin selling portable hard drives. This is a change-up from televisions, laptops, and DVD players, and it broadens the product offering of the company well. Called the Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive, its a portable USB drive with a capacity of from 100GB to 200GB, which is the largest capacity of all compact portable drives.
Pro USB Drives increase in capacity
Submitted by bigthumb on Wed, 2007-04-11 18:17.Imation Corp , a worldwide leader in removable data storage media, today announced added capacity to its USB flash drives. Beginning with the Imation Swivel Pro Flash Drive, with additional models to be available throughout the year, users now have up to 8GB of capacity to store, protect and transfer valuable data. Engineered for professional use, these high-performance portable storage solutions feature high capacity in a small, rugged form factor.
Mandriva Linux now available on a USB drive
Submitted by bigthumb on Wed, 2007-04-11 17:59.You can have now have a full-featured Linux OS booted from a USB stick or thumb drive. Linux distributor Mandriva's Flash 4GB provides Mandriva Linux 2007 KDE 32-bit, which needs no installation-- being ready to boot off the USB 2.0 stick. Plug in the stick, turn on the PC, and Mandriva Linux is ready to use in a few seconds.
It includes drivers for common PC video cards, wireless adapters and modems-- as well as the required firmware. It also offers some open source desktop environments, applications and plugins:
- KDE 3.5.4 (GUI- desktop environment)
Free Portable Office Software
Submitted by bigthumb on Sat, 2006-07-08 15:39. Portable OpenOffice
John Haller has taken several of the best freeware applications and made portable versions. The outstanding OpenOffice works great from a USB drive and only requires 127 megs of space. You will find OpenOffice is well suited to large USB drives like the SanDisk Cruzer.
