Linux Community Magazine

Leave your laptop computer at home. You might know what a USB flash drive is and how to use one. But did you know you can use it for more than just saving some files for accessing later? How about a portable standalone PC? The USB flash drive just might be the greatest invention since the PC itself. They are small in size, portable and can simply be plugged into any USB port of a computer without installing any software drivers.

A Little Information About Flash Drives

A USB flash drive is also known by many other nick names, pen drive, thumbdrive, USB drive, jump drive, "/How-does-a-flash-drive-work.html">flash drive, key drive, drive stick and PC port drive. No matter what you are accustomed to calling them, they all work the same way. A USB flash drive consist of a memory chip or two that can be written to, read from and erased. USB flash drives are similar in nature to conventional hard drives and can be used to write, read, store and retrieve data. Except unlike conventional large hard drives, USB flash drives have no moving parts, and they are small and portable.

Turn Your USB Flash Drive Into A PC

Now here is one of the best things about a USB flash drive. You can turn it into a very low cost portable PC. You read it right. A functioning portable PC running Windows or even Linux on your flash drive. Imagine you are headed over to your friends house to play Grand Theft Auto IV or watch a movie over the internet while snacking on some munchies. Just grab your USB flash drive and leave your laptop at home. Today you can set up your PC on a USB flash drive with "/How-does-a-flash-drive-work.html">portable standalone Windows software, for example: MojoPac or Damn Small Linux for Linux. I use MojoPac for Windows on my USB flash drive and I like it. It's a portable standalone virtual Windows software installation. It runs directly from a USB flash drive. That's right you can launch Windows from your flash drive and use any Windows application directly from the flash drive. Run MS word, play your favorite game or search the internet. Now is that not the coolest thing you h ave ever heard of in a while? Ok, but there are also portable application launchers too. Like PortableApps and PStart that allow you to take your favorite applications with you on the road from your USB flash drive. These too are cool, so do check them out.

Secure Your Data From Data Thieves

Now let me tell you about a must do. If you own a USB flash drive, the chances of losing it are somewhat high. They are small and are very easy to lose or misplace. I myself have lost a few over the years. One of my sleepless nightmares has always been having my private data on my lost flash drive accessible by who knows who. These days I no longer worry about it. I have for sometime now been securing by flash drives with encryption software. Now if I lose a flash drive it is inaccessible to whoever. A good free open source encryption software package is called TrueCrypt. Google for "/How-does-a-flash-drive-work.html">USB flash drive encryption software, download it, and install it on all your USB flash drives today. This way you will sleep better at night. I sure do.

ReadyBoost Ready?

One last thing. This is about Vista ReadyBoost. You can now use a USB flash drive to increase your available system memory on Windows Vista. What you might not know is that not all USB flash drives are ReadyBoost ready. If you are buying a USB flash drive for "/Windows-Vista-Tricks-and-Tips.html">ReadyBoost double check the specifications and make sure it says ReadyBoost ready. By the way, I did discover that some of my older flash drives do work. So I suggest you go through your old flash drives first before buying a new one for ReadyBoost.

Copyright (c) 2008 - 2009, - Author Scott Pheulp - All Rights Reserved.