Take your files with you

USB flash drives are not revolutionary, but the comments we’ve gotten about them in 7 ways to share information show that they’re not as well-known as I thought. Also, I used mine last week to take some files to my relative’s house and I got a load of comments about it from my family and at the local coffee shop.

If you’re not using one, I really suggest giving one of these thumb-sized sticks a try. They’re small, fast, and can hold loads of data. A lot of mobile workers think of them as a mandatory tool. They carry them on business trips and take files between work and home. It can also be a simple way to transfer data between different PCs and is a great way to quickly backup a crucial presentation or school report. Flash drives can also be a handy tool to share pictures with friends rather than carrying your entire computer wherever you go. You would use flash drives the same way you used to use “floppy discs.” While many—but not all—computers still support the 3.5 inch disks, they’re slower and store significantly less data than a USB flash drive.

To get started, just plug the flash drive into the USB slot on your computer. The flash drive should appear in Windows Explorer as another disk drive. You can drag-and-drop files to them, or you can access the flash drive from your favorite applications.

Try the USB Flash Drive Manager

After you get stated, I also suggest downloading and trying the USB Flash Drive Manager, which only works if you’re using Windows XP or above. I find it a helpful way to quickly use the same flash drive for different purposes. For example, I store work files on my flash drive during the week and then personal files during the weekend. The USB Flash Drive Manager makes it easier to transfer groups of files between my computer and flash drive. Otherwise, I might have to get multiple flash drives. It’s also a quicker way to store files from your friend’s flash drive onto your computer.

Note  To install the USB Flash Drive Manager, you also need to install the Microsoft Update for Windows.

After you install the USB Flash Drive Manager, click the Start menu, point to All Programs, and click USB Flash Driver Manager. The Overview tab takes you to the various sections where you can configure the device, back up files, or even create a wireless network installer.

In the Copy Files tab, you can copy files to the flash drive by just dragging files from your computer to the drive manager.

If you go in to the Backup/Restore tab, you can back up files from a flash drive to your computer or put files from your computer to your flash drive.

These are just a couple of things you can do with the USB Flash Drive Manager. It's really helped me take files to and from work more effeciently.

Jason Kozleski