JAYanthem blog

I recently got an email requesting a post on those flashes new USB U3 drives, so here it goes. If you haven’t heard those great little USB flash drives that we all carry around in our pockets now can do much more than just store data. If you buy a U3 compliant USB drive then you actually carry your personal workspace and applications with you and use on ANY PC that has a USB port. Sounds great right? Absolutely, but it is not quite that simple as there are some catches! Here is my PRO vs CON breakdown of U3 drives:

PROs

• Ability to carry your software, browser favorites, and your application preferences with you to any computer
• Ensure privacy when using computers that you don’t own. Use your U3 compliant application and when you are finished just unplug your flash drive and leave no trace

CONs

• Limited software compatibility, the list is growing each month but right now the library of software which is U3 compliant is rather small
• Security concerns- if you use your drive on a public computer and then bring it back to your primary computer you could open yourself to virus infection (chance is small and can limit with proper use of anti-virus programs)
• Must have USB 2.0 or will be too slow, although this shouldn’t be a problem for any decent computer nowadays

Is the U3 logo required?
No it actually isn’t, your regular ole USB flash drive can run portable software too! Getting a U3 drive just makes it easier as they come preloaded with software and contain a slick interface for starting those programs. However you can run many of the same software titles from a non-U3 flash drive, you just have to download and install yourself. See link below to page with software library.

Is this the future?
Many say that this is the future- that is dummy computers with all your personal programs and settings running from a portable device. While this may true I think online apps have a brighter future in the long run because that is the ULTIMATE PORTABLE SOLUTION as you don’t even need to carry anything with you. Just consider Google and all the applications which are now run and stored 100% online: Gmail (email), Google Talk (instant messaging), GCalendar (calendar), and then there is the rumored Google Office suite that will rival Microsoft Office providing online word processing, spreadsheets, etc. That is the future IMO, but until then U3 drives aren’t a bad choice for software portability.

Links for More Info:
www.u3.com
www.portablefreeware.com (U3 not required)