1. 101 Ways to Us e a
Flas h Drive
Well, maybe not 101, but quite a few...
A Presentation by Joel May

2. The working memory in flash drives
is called “flash memory,” invented
by Toshiba in 1980 and available
commercially since 1988.

3. Flas h Memory
• Flash memory is a form of non-volatile computer
memory that can be electrically erased and
reprogrammed.
• Flash memory offers faster read access times
and better kinetic shock resistance than hard
disks.

4. Flas h Memory
• Flash memory generally costs less than other
forms of non-volatile memory and therefore
has become the dominant technology wherever
a significant amount of non-volatile, solid-state
storage is needed.
• Flash memory is also much smaller and lighter
than other forms of non-volatile memory.

5. Flas h Memory
• Another allure of flash memory is that, when
packaged in a memory card or flash drive, it is
nearly indestructible by ordinary physical means,
being able to withstand intense pressure and
heat.

6. Flas h Memory
• There are many manufacturers of flash memory
devices and almost as many shapes, sizes and
capacities.
• Examples of applications include digital audio
players, digital cameras, GPS devices and cell
phones.

7. Flas h Memory
Just a few
examples:

8. Flas h Memory
• Flash memory can be accessed by the device in
which it is contained
– Displaying pictures on a digital camera
– Playing music on a MP3 player or iPod
– Displaying maps in a GPS device
– Playing saved messages or downloading
ringtones on a cell phone

9. Flas h Memory
• Flash memory can also be accessed by a desktop
or laptop computer or by a printer
• Directly, by connecting the device containing the
flash memory to a computer or printer using a
USB connection
• Or indirectly, via...

10. Flas h Memory
A card
reader
built into a
desktop
computer

11. Flas h Memory
A card
reader
built into a
photo
printer

12. Flas h Memory
A free-
standing
card
reader
that
connects
via a USB
cable

13. Flas h Memory
But the really important thing to remember is
A ll Flas h Memory Devices are
the S ame Ins ide
Whether they be:
• MP3 Players • Secure Digital Cards
• Compact Flash Cards • Smart Media Cards
• Memory Sticks • Flash or Thumb Drives
• or whatever

14. Flas h Memory
• Among other things, this means you can:
– Take a bunch of pictures with your digital
camera
– Remove the memory card from your camera
and put it in your pocket
– Come over to my apartment
– Plug the memory card into my computer
– Show me the pictures

15. Flas h Memory
• Among other things, this means you can:
– Show up at my apartment with your mp3 player
– See a new program on my computer of which
you’d like to have a copy
– Copy the installation software from my
computer to your mp3 player
– Return home and copy the software from your
mp3 player to your hard drive
– Install it on your computer

16. US B Flas h Drives
• Flash memory is widely used in USB flash drives
(also called thumb drives, jump drives, pocket
drives, handy drives, stick drives, etc).
• Flash drives first became commercially available
in 2000.

17. US B Flas h Drives

18. US B Flas h Drives

19. US B Flas h Drives

20. US B Flas h Drives

21. US B Flas h Drives

22. US B Flas h Drives

23. US B Flas h Drives

24. US B Flas h Drives
• USB flash drives are compact and easy-to-use
devices that are similar in function to a computer
hard drive
• USB flash drives slip into your pocket, on a
lanyard around your neck or on a keychain for
ultimate portable storage

25. US B Flas h Drives
• A flash drive consists of a small printed circuit
board encased in a robust plastic or metal casing
• Only the USB connector protrudes from this
protection, and is usually retractable or covered
by a removable cap
• Flash drives use a standard type-A USB
connection allowing them to be connected directly
to a port of a personal computer

26. US B Flas h Drives
• To access the data stored in a flash drive, the
drive must be connected to the computer's USB
port
• Flash drives are active only when powered by a
USB computer connection, and require no other
external power source or battery power source
• They are powered using the limited supply
afforded by the USB connection.

27. US B Flas h Drives
• Currently, memory capacity ranges from 4GB up
to 256GB, limited only by flash memory densities
• USB Flash Drives are relatively inexpensive
although cost per megabyte increases rapidly at
higher capacities due to the expensive
components

28. US B Flas h Drives
• Based on a recent price check, flash drives were
available in retail stores and online at $5 for 4GB,
$11 for 16GB, and $65 for 64GB (or about $1 per
GB)
• A 128GB drive could be had for about $230 and a
256GB version was priced around $700

29. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Personal Data Transport
They can be used for transporting personal
files (just like floppies, but a lot more
capacious)
- Data
You can also use
- Music
specialized flash drives
- Pictures
to store medical alert
- Video
information
- And More

30. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Personal Data Transport
• Trek With Books, Not a Backache
- Carry your e-books from iBooks, Kindel or Nook with
you on your flash drive.
– load up your flash drive with some of the thousands of
free e-books (in text format) available from Project
Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org)

31. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Personal Data Transport
Tunes to Go:
- Many companies make small flash memory based
audio players, essentially flash drives with sound
output and a simple user interface.
- If you're in your car, with the right hardware you
can play the tunes right from the flash drive too—
no software required

32. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Secure Storage of Files
• With Flash Drives being used in various
environments (safe or otherwise), security of the
information is important.
• Strong passwords, file locking or on-the-fly
encryption is highly recommended.
• A program like lockdir.exe ($24.95) is useful in
this respect.

33. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Application Carriers
• Flash drives can be used to carry applications
that run on any host computer without requiring
installation.
• The great advantage of this is that when the
flash drive is removed from the host computer,
nothing from the host can modify the data on the
flash drive AND vice versa.

34. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Application Carriers
• Some examples are:
- U3 (www.u3applications.com/categories/all)
- Portable Apps (portableapps.com/apps)
- Ceedo (www.ceedo.com/products/ceedo-
personal.html)

35. A pplication C arriers
• With flash drive based applications, you can:
– Plug your flash drive into the USB port of any
computer anywhere – a friend’s house, an
Internet Café, a hotel business center, an office
– anywhere, and see your own familiar desktop,
programs, and data,
– Run a portable browser to surf the Web or a
portable e-mail client to pick up email,
– Put the final touches on your document or slide
show presentation with Writer or Impress,
– Play your favorite music or watch videos.

36. A pplication C arriers
Then:
• Remove the UTD at the end of the session and
no record of your session or anything else
personal remains on the host computer. . .
• And nothing from the host computer is retained
on your flash drive.

37. PortableApps
AntiVirus
Package
Browser
Instant
Messaging
Microsoft Office
Substitute
Math Game
Calendar
Email

38. PortableA pps
• And many more:
portableapps.com/apps

39. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Booting Operating Systems
•It is possible to create a bootable Windows (or Linux)
operating system on a flash drive and use it to boot up
on a host computer.
• Windows 8 (due out in October 2012) is planned to
have a feature called “Windows to Go” which will allow
users to carry a bootable copy of Windows 8, along
with their programs and documents, on a USB flash
drive.

40. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Augment System Memory
Windows Vista and Windows 7 have a “Ready Boost”
feature that allows flash drives 4GB and larger to act
as additional RAM in your computer, speeding up
operations.

41. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Other Stuff
• ID and security systems
• Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor
(COFEE)
• Music marketing
• Arcade game memory
• Brand and product promotion

42. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Backup Your Data
• In my view, this is the most important use of a
flash drive.
• The characteristics of a good backup are:
- Easy and convenient to create
- Easy to access when needed
- Physically located in a different location
than your computer

43. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Backup Your Data
• In the past, the safest way to create a good
backup was to copy your data to a removable
medium (CD, DVD, external hard drive),
• Then secure that medium in a location different
from that of the computer (safe deposit box,
home of a friend, etc.).
• That approach was effective but somewhat
inconvenient.

44. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Backup Your Data
• If you use a flash drive on your key chain as
your backup medium:
- You will always have it with you
- If you need to evacuate your home in the
event of a tornado, fire, or flood, you’ll take
your backup with you

45. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Backup Your Data
• If you use a flash drive on your key chain as
your backup medium:
- If you need to restore defective files on
your computer, the backup is conveniently
available
- When you sit down a someone else’s
computer, you’ll always have all your files with
you.

46. S ome Things You can Do
With a US B Flas h Drive
Backup Your Data
• A great tool to use to back up your hard drive to a flash
drive is Sync Toy 2.1 from Microsoft:
www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15155
• It compares the data on the source hard drive and that
on the flash drive on a file-by-file basis and makes them
identical; deleting, creating or modifying files on the flash
drive to correspond to those on the hard drive and vice
versa, always using the most recent version of the file(s).

47. S ummary
Thanks to flash drive technology, we are
reaching the point where we can finally
fulfill the real promise of the digital
age:
C omplete freedom and mobility

48. The E nd
This presentation is available for viewing at
www.joelmay.org/presentions