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Put Your USB Drive To Work: 5 Strategies For Going Mobile

Now that the floppy disk is dead (or as dead as it gets) and the USB flash drive has pretty much replaced it, it's high time to think about that USB drive as more than just a big floppy.

Put Your USB To Work


•  Introduction

•  Be Productive

•  Run An OS


•  Maintain Passwords

•  Synchronize Data

•  Encrypt Your Data

•  List Of Resources

There's no question the size of your average USB drive has made it far easier to shuttle both data and applications between computers. For $25, you can pick up a 2GB USB flash drive, enough data to fill roughly four CD-ROMs. But aside from data, applications are also becoming a featured item: Some companies sell Linux distributions pre-loaded on a USB stick, for instance. With all that space and flexibility available, it's become possible (or at least a lot easier) for people to take both their data and their applications with them.

Because so many things are possible, people new to the idea of using USB drives to work on the go sometimes get a little lost. What kinds of on-the-go work can you specifically do with a USB drive, and why? To that end, I've assembled five basic ways you can use your USB drive on the go in more effective ways:

  • How to use applications without installing anything on the host machine
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