Best six uses for a pendrive

Posted by: jobinmartin on: February 28, 2008

• In: computer tips
• 2 Comments

                                                     

As we grow from novice to expert users the uses of a Pen drive also change. I have  found many uses. The main 6 of them are listed below.

1. Transferring files from one PC to another. This will of course be limited to the size of the pen drive, but with sizes higher than 16 GB now available. This is the first use anyone will put a pen drive into.
2. As a small backup solution. You can install Windows XP or vista , to a USB pen drive. So if for any reason you can’t boot to Windows, you can still boot to an installation of Windows, plug in an external hard drive and take off any information from the hard drive before formatting.
3. As temporary RAM in Vista. In Windows Vista, ready boost allows you to allocate a pen drive as RAM. Microsoft has introduced a new technology called ReadyBoost. With the help of this technology one can use any Flash drive, SD Cards, CF Cards as the third memory option for the compute.

The benefits of Flash Drive or Cards as a source of Memory :

1. It is faster than the virtual memory which is accessed through the hard disk drive.
2. It is cheaper as compared to the actually Physical Memory.
See how to use Pen drive as RAM:

In order to activate the ReadyBoost technology on your FlashDrive or Memory Cards, you have to follow these steps…

1. Open My Computer.
2. Right Click on the Removable Disk Drive and select Properties.
3. Click on Ready Boost Tab.
4. Enable the feature by selecting the option and allocate the amount of space you want to use as memory.

Things to be noted….
1. Regardless of the fact that you use Readyboost or not, you need at least 512 Mb of memory to run Windows Vista decently.
2. If your device is not giving the option of ReadyBoost then it means that it doesn’t clear up the minimum data trasfer rate required by Read Boost technology.

4.Portable applications. You can carry many portable applications on your Pen drive. eg: Mozilla thunderbird

5.Booting to LINUX

Installing a Linux distro to a pen drive will allow for the use of the hard drive and all the files on it. Sure you could use a live CD, but then you would lose the ability to use that optical drive within the Linux environment. This is particularly useful for those running on laptops or PCs with only one optical drive.

6. For Carrying around a pack of Antivirus tools. You never know when you need them!

Tags: pendrive, uses of pendrives