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I love my USB Jump Drive
Last week I partook in what I am sure will be an everyday staple of nerd life. I bought my first USB Jump drive. I purchased a 128-meg Lexar USB2 Jump drive from Target for a mere $35.
For those of you who do not know what the heck that is let me educate you a bit. It is a small device about the size of half a pack of bubble gum that can store a hundred and twenty eight megs of data with speed that is faster than any hard drive and all you have to do to hook it up is just to plug the little thing into an open USB port on just about any modern OS.
That is the same as a stack of a hundred floppy disks but without the crashing and loud scraping noises. There is no floppy drive on my notebook or on the PC at my work and I think that Zip drives are pure evil since the curse of The Click of Death was unleashed on the world. I don't see a point at burning a whole CD-RW disc for just a small amount of data and constantly moving files by email and keeping personal data in a MySQL database is a bit to much at times. This is where a USB jump drive comes in handy. Essentially they are just a bit of flash memory like in a digital camera or a PDA. My jump drive is just the ticket when I want to access or move a bit of personal data without to much hassle or fanfare.
I set up my Mozilla Calender to store my day planner information on it so I have a synchronous schedule without having to use the Internet.
I also keep a backup of my email contacts in a text file, copies of this weeks website entries in OpenOffice.org format as well as several unfinished pieces and notes, several saved web page articles, a PDF Travel Guide to Tokyo, the Sega Dreamcast users manual with spiffy illustrations, a copy of the ferry schedules, a folder of amusing images saved from the web, a new copy of Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird for my girlfriend who is using dial-up, a folder of images of a hair style I am going for, a Mpeg movies of a 50's civil defense film about atomic war, and an album that I have been listening to in MP3 format.
I love this little thing and it has earned a place in my bag or briefcase. The only thing I have to be careful about is not to lose the petite thing.
Jake at March 16, 2004 
Nerd
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Comments
A few months back i recieved a USB memory key from Dell via my workplace. I love that thing! Talk about handy for small apps.
I tend to keep the notmad explorer software for my Nomad Zen, some networking utility software, contact lists, a version of trillian and winamp installed directly to the key (for public termainal use).
Let's not also forget some of the RPC patches for XP for my not-so-literate friends, as well as the latest edition of Virus Scan and it's definitions ^_-
Posted by: Sean at March 16, 2004 12:50 AM
Ahh the Zipdrive's Click Of Death! It destroyed me a full disk with music arrangements and audio sample for my Akai MPC2000 sampler several years ago. I had one of the very first revisions of the drive. Man I was in a good mood!
Posted by: drcolossus of dataleak at March 16, 2004 1:15 AM
Jump drives are a godsend. At work, we have a lab that can't be on the network for security purposes. In the past, I had to zip up my work on my deesktop across ~5 floppies and bring them into the lab. Now I can use the jumpdrive, which is considerably easier.
Posted by: Trent at March 16, 2004 6:22 AM
Try this - http://texturizer.net/firefox/tips.html#oth_usb
You can set up your whole FireFox profile + program on the USB so you will never be without!
I think this also works with Thunderbird (storing the program, mail and contacts all on a USB drive) but I can't seem to find the instructions.
I actually don't have a USB drive yet (I just play with other people's) but they've come way down in price so I'll have to go get one.
Posted by: Dave at March 16, 2004 7:07 AM
Oh yeah, got a few of those things. I bought them when they first came out (32MB for nearly $100). Then upgraded a few times. My Muvo MP3 player is also a USB Flash drive. And even cooler, a colleague has a USB drive that has a fingerprinter authenticator.
Posted by: dunsany at March 16, 2004 9:44 AM
I've got a couple, actually. My original 128MB one is used for work stuff now, since I'm transferring files between PCs on a regular basis. I have a new 256MB one I use for personal stuff, too. They're very nice to have.
Posted by: Chad at March 16, 2004 10:20 AM
I used Zip Drives for years and never suffered the click of death. Instead, I just wore the drive out. I now have a small pile of Zip disks with nothing to use them on.
When I got my Dreamcast, I couldn't find the manual. I emailed the old evil distributor and they sent me a replacement manual. Seconds later, I found it in the box. :p
Posted by: Matt at March 16, 2004 10:43 AM
I had no idea the Click of Death was so damn destructive. Also I never knew Dreamcast operation was so damn complex.
Posted by: Jake at March 16, 2004 11:01 AM
I just got a new thumbdrive from work. A whole 512MBs of sweet goodness. I carry the thing constantly. I keep telling my co-workers I'm going to use the neck strap and show it off like it's my Geek Bling.
Posted by: Kevin at March 16, 2004 11:48 AM
The Click of death was just what the name implies: It made one loud click and all your data went to oblivion. I had to send my zip drive back to IOMega and they exchanged it freely into a newer version. But my data was all gone.
Posted by: drcolossus of dataleak at March 16, 2004 6:11 PM
I'm still boycotting all Iomega Products. Nuf said. After my horrible experience with them and my "Click of Death" complaint. I'm still stuck with a useless piece of junk. Thank the heavens for the invention of CD-R's and other more relyable companies that make far superior products. Iomega was sued and now is a shadow of it's former self. Good ridance. Although I'm not sure what to do with my old click o' deathed zip drive ... paperwieght? Cat litter box alternative (too small)? I dunno. My old school projects are still on those disks and probably will never be recovered. I still HATE Iomega with a passion to this very day. Continue the boycott! Don't buy Iomega products! There are faaaaaar better devices from other companies out there now.
Posted by: Heather at March 17, 2004 7:34 AM
You think you're all cool and stuff with your USB Jump Drive! Well look what I got for Christmas! USB Memory Watch. Actually it was cool for about the first month to watch the people in the computer lab stare at me suspiciously as I plugged in my watch, but it's getting old now. Still, I like it because I never lose it - a big problem I had with my thumbdrive. Oh, you might also be interested in the USB Swiss Army Knife.
Posted by: Matthew Jones at March 19, 2004 10:30 AM
Yeah but those are 80 bucks. That must be one hell of a watch.
Posted by: Jake at March 19, 2004 10:40 AM
USB Thumbdrive...don't leave home without.
Posted by: ADHD Dad at March 19, 2004 8:23 PM
This is why I love having skipped, out of cheapness and inertia, so many interations of technology (as I get ready to replace my 1996 Presario 4770...) Didn't have to wrangle the Zip drives at all.
and my colleagues used to say put it in the freezer after Click of Death and sometimes it will come back. I promise I don't have a camera pointed at your freezer.
Posted by: Julie at May 24, 2004 9:40 PM
I HAVE A QUESTION THAT I HOPE SOMEONE CAN ANSWER...I HAVE THE REALLY COOL LEXAR JUMP DRIVE AND HAVE MOZILLA AND OPEN OFFICE ON IT, WITH SOME FILES I SAVED ON THERE. I WAS WONDERING IF THERE WAS ANYWAY I CAN PUT A CHAT PROGRAM ON THERE??? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME IF SOMEONE COULD TELL ME HOW OR IF IT IS EVEN POSSIBLE.
Posted by: trulytree at February 26, 2006 12:08 PM
