The AM Forum

I realize this is probably old news to many, but for those of us still in the computer dark ages, here's a nice product.

For decades I've used an internal hard drive "E" to back up all my important files. But for about $25, this 16 gig flash drive about the size of a finger will do the job. I ordered it off of eBay, just plugged it into the USB port and the computer recognized it instantly as drive "F".  I did a copy and paste of a 6 gig file and done in a few minutes!  This little device can be stored safely AWAY from everything else for safekeeping.

These sticks are also available at much larger capacities for more $.  Way to go for file backup protection.

Amazing technology.

T

http://cgi.ebay.com/Premium-Aluminum-Flash-memory-stick-thumb-Drive-16-GB-/330566983023?_trksid=p4340.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D230623058589%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D134322762106245782

I've worn out a few of them so I guess the trick is to load it once and save it.
I've been meaning to store all my pictures on one.
They have a limited number of write cycles.
I back up stuff on my kids computers so if one dies I don't lose my stuff..

They are supposed to be good for several thousand saves and plays. I have never had one to wear out and I use them all the time. Do you always go through the proper "safely remove disc" procedure before pulling it out of the USB receptacle? I suppose it's a good idea to always keep a back-up of the back-up.

Don,

I didn't get any documentation with the drives, nor looked it up.  What are the general precautions to removing one from the USB port?

T

When you plug one in there is a little icon on the right side of the monitor that comes up. When you want to remove it click on the icon and select shut the drive down. it will tell you when it is safe to remove the drive. It won't shut down if any files are open.
I just wore one out but I use it multiple times a day to move files around.

When you plug the stick into the USB port, an icon should appear on the right-hand side of the Windows Task Bar. Clicking on the icon will invoke a procedure to "safely" remove the thumb drive. If you don't do this, some data may be deleted or corrupted. Basically, clicking on this icon ensures all writes to the thumb drive are completed and disk buffers are flushed before you physically remove it.

I think you can also right click on the icon for the thumb drive in Windows Explorer and do the same thing.

Yeah, that procedure works in XP as well...

I've yet to loose one here but then, they really don't get used that much...

At times the response to clicking the "Safely remove..." icon in the taskbar can be confusing - mostly thanks to the way Windows handles USB devices.

A much more direct & sure approach is to use Windows Explorer, expand the Computer icon if it isn't expanded already and right click on the target thumb drive.  Then left click on "Eject".  You will get a "Safe to remove.." message.

Another use for thumb drives is to speed up your Vista or Win7 system.  There is a function called ReadyBoost. If the thumb drive is fast enough (Windows will inform you), Windows stores disk information on it in a special format, kind of a pre-fetch for your hard drive.  Makes quite a difference in responsiveness.  Use Help to pull up info on ReadyBoost.

73, Bill  N2BC

I read somewhere that they are good for millions of cycles. Another thing to note is, they can be set up where you don't have to use that Safely Remove feature. I just pull mine out of the port and I have lost nothing so far. 

There have been reports of some who thought it was safe to remove a USB thumb drive and trashed their OS.  I figured I was immune to that but I managed to do it here.  Still can't figure out how.  Maybe it was luck of the draw.

I believe that most USB drives are set up to spread usage across the entire physical device memory to increase the life instead of constantly using the same area when you are only utilizing a small portion of its capacity.  I know that the CF and SD cards for my Canon camera use this technique.  The implication is that if you regular fill up the entire drive then the life will be greatly reduced, I imagine millions of cycles refers to a device that is generally used only for a small percentage of its overall capacity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive

Wiki has a pretty good summary about flash drives.  It says that there are about 1500 cycles before the mechanical USB plug wears out, so this may be the longevity limitation if we plug it in and out for each use.

I didn't see anything about the OS getting trashed yet.  I will use the icon for removal as suggested - tnx.

T

I just wished there was something simular that works with USB1's....  none of the thumb drives will work on my WinDoza 98 lap top.


klc

you need the w98 and or w95 drivers for that. check the manufacturers page, they usually have something.

as for pulling the flash drive while hot, would you remove a floppy disc while the light is on?

"Safely remove hardware and eject media" is there to protect your data by making sure that you do not have files open on the device and that there is no pending I/O.  If you don't use that function you may get a surprise someday when you find that the data you assumed was on the USB drive is not really there.

My point was to express that they can be safely removed hot. How anyone does it other than me, is their business.

A person interested in doing so would go to my computer then find the drive and hit properties and there a choice can be made.

Yes they will. Win98 is PITA, but you have to go out on the internet and manually download the drivers. And they will work. Laptops are generally USB 2.0

I am seeing the advantage and ease of using these dam things NOW to organize the thumbs, so I know what's on them
Fred

I purchased a card of those little ~1/2" X 3/4" adhesive stickers like they use in stores to indicate the price of merchandise, and stick them on the thumb drive and write some clue to what is in it, or at least a reference number that I can document elsewhere.

Osama Bin Laden reportedly used thumb drives to communicate with the outside world via the WWW, avoiding a direct internet connection that could be traced to his location.  He typed his e-mails and website posts onto the thumb drive, and the courier hand carried it to an internet café or other public wi-fi spot to post the message, and reversed the procedure to return with the reply.

Then there is this cool stuff that you can do with them:

http://portableapps.com/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/123266/u3_portable_programs_on_a_usb_drive.html

Tom:

USB thumb drives are an excellent invention. I keep one in my back pocket all the time.

Keep in mind that they are not meant to be a backup medium I use two external hard drives for that.

Also many viruses exist that directly target USB thumb drives as a distribution medium. A brother of mine found one on one of his student's thumb drives that had a virus that survived formatting. He could not clean it. Luckily he was using a Mac computer. So scan often and deep. To me they are one of the largest security vulnerabilities out there.

Dan

I was reading that second link and all the time thinking it was something brand new. Then I discovered the article was written in 2005.

A note in the article.........When you're done, you click an eject button on the menu to safely remove the device (although if no apps on the drive are open and you aren't copying any data onto the drive, you should be able to simply unplug it without problems). As promised, the drive left no traces of the applications on our test PC, apart from the device number that any USB drive leaves in the Windows Registry when plugged in.  

' check the manufacturers page, they usually have something. "

The something was,  win98 aint  suported.... ..


klc

here is the thing...
USB drives are dirt cheap, buy a few. if one goes bad toss it out.
i have had many, i had one that was in my jeans pocket when it went through the wash and still works, i had one my dog chewed and still works. I have also seen others just stop working.
if you are still running Windows 98...well good luck to you, can find better stuff dumpster diving.  :-*

you may be able to find the old ones, 32/64/128MB with drivers, from those that have been there.. The drivers are usually saved somewhere. The sticks are pretty much giveaway in those old sizes.

Just out of curiosity Tom, what were you using prior to your recent thumb drive discovery?  Floppies?  Printing everything out on paper?   ;)

Rob

At work I am stuck with what I have to use for computers to service two-way radios. We will go out and look for thumb drives drives and wifi modems that will run on Win 98 SE minimum. There is still a lot of stuff that will work. The minimum system now is WIN 98 second edition.
A lot of extra work but one day win98 will be gone.
The computers we are using are slow enough to read two-way radios and pagers. Using XP starts to push the limits and then it's hit and miss success of programming the radio. Especially talking out of a USB port.
After 2013 a lot of the DOS and win98 need will go away.

Hi Rob,

Cassette tapes, what else?   ;D

As I mentioned in the first post, I was using a duplicate "E" hard drive in the computer to occasionally ghost-backup the first "C" drive.  I've been doing that since 1988 in one way or another. Even had one of those older external Zip drives using mini-discs until recently.

The potential risk was if the computer itself were to catch on fire, get hit by lightning, etc and take out both drives.  The solution is a removable media that can be stored away in a fire-proof safe.

Using an external hard drive is another solution, but as I learn more, these thumb flash drives are really a great way to go.  I rely on them now.

I read that they are not as fast as real hard drives, otherwise would be used as the main storage device with no moving parts. That day will come.

T

Thumb drives have pretty much replaced burning CDs for a lot we do at work. More reliable than CDs in the short term, too. You can't scratch them.

My home PC has a 5" 1.2 meg floppy drive installed for grins. The last true floppy disc.

I remember the transistion when they were phasing out floppies. For a few years some of the software companies still offered to send a floppy in the mail. And some of the older programs in storage were still on floppy. So having one in the computer was important for a while longer.

Nowadays, just download it off the website. Nice.

But, Bill -  needing a floppy in 2011?  That's like breaking into an alligator ssb QSO using a DX-100!    ;D

I still need to use a 3.5" floppy in my older telescope control computer, so I hear ya.

T

aaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I still maintain one PC here that runs either of two partitions, Win98 or DOS 6.22, has a 5 1/4 inch 1.2/360 floppy, a 3 1/2 inch 1.4/720 floppy, 2 hard drives, 1 CDR drive, one CDRW drive, and a PCI/USB card to connect to a thumb drive. Ya never know when you have to run some old stuff or want to transfer some "old" stuff to newer media or vice-versa.

If anyone notices a thumbdrive that works on 1.0USB, lemme know?
I'd even take an older one...
Actually anyone with a 1gig Kingston drive that works on 1.0 that would be ideal.

I need to migrate an older machine's main files without making extra work.

Yes, I know there are other ways. But this is so dumb and stupid.

Seems thatmost of the 1.0 drives want a driver installed on the computer, which would be easy enough IF you could just plug in a USB drive and download it!  ::) ::) ::) Otoh, I could burn to a CDR, IF I had a machine running with a burner...

Anyhow, I have had one drive refuse to write anylonger (drat!) and that was a Kingston that was 1.0 compliant with a driver on the machine... it worked a long time before it stopped writing. It reads ok.

I now have a fair number of these suckers in the 4 & 8 gig size, some redundant for safety. Not enough to back it all up, but enough for some critical stuff... for bigger back up I have a 500gig USB HD...

                  _-_-bear