I'm now the proud owner of a 2GB USB Drive & I wanted to share a few tips/tricks I've learned for getting the most use from it! I want my USB to provide a self-contained computing experience that I can take with me. When I pop it in, I want everything that I'm comfortable with at my finger tips :) I'll help you setup your USB drive to address the following needs (no order):
- Sensitive Data Storage - Examples include financial info, passwords, etc.
- Email Access - Allowing you to comfortably check your mail from anywhere
- Synchronization - As storage amounts increase, more data can be backed up
- Buddies/Contacts - Instant messaging to friends is available anywhere
- Office & Productivity - Work on docs, spreadsheets, and presentations
First things first, get a USB launcher
The Ativa drive I bought at Office Max for $45 (on special) came with "U3 Technology" for running apps directly from the drive. It was nice, but I ultimately decided to use a replacement from PortableApps. Unfortunately, U3 doesn't make it obvious how to uninstall and I had to search to find the answer. Once it was uninstalled, I downloaded the PortableApps Standard Suite and followed the installation instructions. This suite killed two birds with one stone - I had an application 'launcher' & I had some cool applications. U3 gave me the launcher and then made me individually seek out the cool applications.
With this suite installed, I had the office piece (Open Office Portable) & the Email piece (Thunderbird). I opened Thunderbird and entered in my email server details [Note: I don't recommend doing this if you have POP3 unless you 'Leave a copy on the server'. IMAP users - you're in a good boat with me!)
The PortableApps site also provided free add-on solutions for IM (GAIM) and Music/Video (VLC Media Player)
Next, Sensitive Data Protection
Interestingly enough, neither PortableApps nor U3 provided a good solution for sensitive data. U3 provides an app called Roboforms, but I couldn't figure it out to save my life. Thanks to a very helpful article from TipMonkies, I learned about KeePass - a little password application for storing sensitive data on your USB drive. Since it doesn't come with either suite, you have to follow these steps to install:
- Download the ZIP version (the .exe version will install to your PC)
- Open your USB drive and create the folder X:\PortableApps\KeePass
- Unzip the downloaded file and copy/paste the .exe file into the new folder
- Re-start the PortableApp Launcher and then select KeePass from the menu
Other goodies to consider...
Alas, there are other great apps you can put on your USB drive. Following the same manual steps listed above, I added these applications:
- XnView - Super Image viewer/editor that's light weight and fast!
- Abstract Spoon's ToDoList - Simple ToDo List that's really small
- File Restoration (REST2514.EXE) - Originally created by Brian Kato and now provided by Kelly
- Security (and Encryption) - TrueCrypt wins hands down (Read the FAQ!)
Last, let's back it all up
I saved this section for last because it actually took me a little while to settle on which back up method I wanted to use. After thinking about it, I want to 'Synchronize' my PC with my USB - not use either as a backup. Synchronization and Backup are very different in certain ways. If you want a free back up solution, here is a great page with many options. If you want a synchronization solution, I recommend Allway Sync.
There's a lot here, but its all pretty simple to download and install. When you're done, you'll have a pretty functional USB drive - something you can plug in just about anywhere and start using! Good luck!