USB mini "thumb" drives...
Cool or what?
I'm thinking about getting one. Anyone here have one? Anything I should know about? Do they, as advertised, truly work with Macs AND PCs, no software, no drivers, etc. needed?
I'm always at a buddy's house (most of them on PCs) and I'll download an update or shareware or whatever because they'll have a nice, speedy connection. Then I waste an entire CD to hold just 20-50MB for the trip back home.
Short of lugging a Zip drive around (no fun), this seems like the next best thing and a total no-brainer.
What's the good word on these things? Reliable? Durable? Work like they're supposed to?
Thanks!
Oh yeah: any brands or models to look at, or - conversely - avoid at all costs?
I'm thinking about getting one. Anyone here have one? Anything I should know about? Do they, as advertised, truly work with Macs AND PCs, no software, no drivers, etc. needed?
I'm always at a buddy's house (most of them on PCs) and I'll download an update or shareware or whatever because they'll have a nice, speedy connection. Then I waste an entire CD to hold just 20-50MB for the trip back home.
Short of lugging a Zip drive around (no fun), this seems like the next best thing and a total no-brainer.
What's the good word on these things? Reliable? Durable? Work like they're supposed to?
Thanks!
Oh yeah: any brands or models to look at, or - conversely - avoid at all costs?
Comments
that said, i lost mine within two weeks. it was so small it fell off my keychain and i never saw it again. really nice while it lasted though.
Hint: don't reformat the disk to HFS or HFS+, as you'll lose the cross-platform capabilities in return for only nominally better transfer rates on Macs. Leave it FAT32 or MS/DOS and it simply works.
There's so many brands to choose from. I picked BusLink because it was at Best Buy and they were cheap ($29.99 for the 32 MB, $69.99 for the 128 MB). And they go up to 1 GB too (for like $400 ).
Many of them also have some cool password security too...unfortunately the software for that is PC only (sigh). But yes, as long as you keep it formatted as a PC disk it will work with both. Disk Utility can format it just like a regular disk.
And check out that price!
It's calling my name...
Most things I'm shuttling back and forth are simple downloads and updates from Apple and Adobe and maybe some 5-8MB shareware app or whatever. In all this time, I don't think I've ever burned (okay, wasted) a CD with more than 40-50MB of stuff on it. I'm thinking 64MB would do me fine.
The color and price of that particular model just seals the deal.
Link:
http://www.officemax.com/max/solutio...kOID=537048532
Note: The rebates don't start until May 4 (tomorrow), so you can't get it today. It should be available in-store tomorrow, as it's printed in the ad that will begin circulating tomorrow, or is online now if you look here:
http://images.officemax.com/images/s...M_P02_4C01.jpg
That's the ad for Orlando, but it should be the same nationwide.
Originally posted by MCQ
That's the ad for Orlando, but it should be the same nationwide.
Is is in California too! 8)
Originally posted by ast3r3x
i'm sure the min USB drives will be nicer but why not use a CD-RW then you wouldn't be wasting CD's (they are very nice specially with little information to burn so it doesn't matter that u can't re-burn fast
Much more portable... I can stick a usb thumb drive in my pocket, or on my keychain. I can't stick a CD in my pocket. If I have to transer larger amts of info, then I use the CD burner. They're beginning to get much cheaper for a reasonable amount of storage, so it's a nice addition to have.
Originally posted by ast3r3x
i'm sure the min USB drives will be nicer but why not use a CD-RW then you wouldn't be wasting CD's (they are very nice specially with little information to burn so it doesn't matter that u can't re-burn fast
You do mention the USB drives are nicer, so I won't try to tell you that they are...that just wouldn't make sense.
What was my point?
uh..
uh..
Oh yeah! Don't you have to erase the whole cd and then re-ad stuff everytime you use a CD-RW ?
Originally posted by MCQ
Much more portable... I can stick a usb thumb drive in my pocket, or on my keychain. I can't stick a CD in my pocket. If I have to transer larger amts of info, then I use the CD burner. They're beginning to get much cheaper for a reasonable amount of storage, so it's a nice addition to have.
again i did say USB drives are nicer but he made it sound like there wasn't any other option besides wasting a CD or using a zip drive
Originally posted by progmac
You do mention the USB drives are nicer, so I won't try to tell you that they are...that just wouldn't make sense.
What was my point?
uh..
uh..
Oh yeah! Don't you have to erase the whole cd and then re-ad stuff everytime you use a CD-RW ?
no...well not with toast if you do a burn session and not burn disc, but yes it is annoying...but he doesn't seem to be that he is doing it often
oh and progmac, thanks for noticing i DID say it was better unlike MCQ
oh and MCQ, i still luv ya
Anyways, yeah it's what you want to use, there's a place for both, and they both have their reasons for use. I just find that I'm beginning to burn CDs much less, now that I have a usb memory key and an iPod.
Originally posted by MCQ
Haha, thanks ast3r3x... yeah I was kind of confused by the whole "usb drives are likely better yet CDRW is very very nice" thing, so I figured I'd make the post anyway.
Anyways, yeah it's what you want to use, there's a place for both, and they both have their reasons for use. I just find that I'm beginning to burn CDs much less, now that I have a usb memory key and an iPod.
yeah, definatly would use CD's less if i had a USB memory keychain and iPod
I like Sony's drives...but they cost twice as much. Uggh.
I think I'm going to buy a 128MB one. Seems the perfect solution for school (with a lot of Macs, most with USB ports. Other option is a floppy.)
I'm assuming these things mount in OS 9 with the USBMassStorage or whatever extension enabled?
Originally posted by ast3r3x
i'm sure the min USB drives will be nicer but why not use a CD-RW then you wouldn't be wasting CD's (they are very nice specially with little information to burn so it doesn't matter that u can't re-burn fast
What MCQ said, pretty much
Here's the thing too: a couple of the friends I visit don't have CD-R drives on their computers, so...
I can download the stuff but can't really take it with me unless I lugged my Zip.
This little device, like you mentioned in your final post below, is SO much more convenient. I can use it on any computer (all my friends use Macs, Windows ME, 2000 or XP), regardless of whatever optical drive they may - or may not - have.
And yeah, for 12MB or whatever, it's a pain to burn a CD-RW. I thought about that. For me, this is a cooler, easier and quicker solution.
Plus, look at the size! It's completely convenient and tiny!
j/k
You asked about the CD-RW thing, so I just felt as though I should answer, that's all. Yeah, this is a better solution, isn't it?
I remember saying to a co-worker, probably about 5 or so years ago (we'd just gotten a SCSI Zip drive at work) that "this is so cool! It's like a Syquest but even more space...and it's smaller!"
Years later, this is kinda like that: my trusty old USB 100MB Zip Drive - cool and useful as it is and has been - has become like a Syquest drive and these cool little flash drives are the "oh wow...cool!" thing.
The price on flash memory is truly getting cheap, though --- 1GB is a really nice option for backup (and for publication-worthy digital picture shoots).