Stop carrying floppies!!

Saaby

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 17, 2002
Messages
7,447
Location
Utah
I'm sure many of you have seen or heard about those thumb sized USB hard drives, well they're technically not hard drives but...

Well after today I decited that maybe I wanted one. Looked arond to see if I could afford one and found out that indeed I can! Tigerdirect has a deal and a half on one. 32Mb $19.99...but wait! there's a $10 rebate, so that makes it only $9.99 Mine came out to something like $28 with shipping...do that's $18 after the rabate. Not bad for 32Mb of space that I can carry anywhere and use on practically any computer of you ask me.

TigerDirect
 

GJW

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
2,030
Location
Bay Area, CA
Another idea is a compact flash card or MMC card.
The card readers can usually be found for less than $15 and the cards are often on sale at very good prices.
Last time I bought one it was $29 for 128MB.
128MB of portable storage for under $50.
 

Darell

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 14, 2001
Messages
18,644
Location
LOCO is more like it.
I do the same thing that Greg does. I have several MB of Compact flash because of my cameras. I use them for portable data. BUT the other machine has to have a reader too, or you need to carry it with you. That's where the USB memory shines. All self-contained.

I hate Tiger, BTW. But as long as you aren't buying a computer from them, you're probably good to go.
 

Saaby

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 17, 2002
Messages
7,447
Location
Utah
Yeah I know a few people hate Tiger, and I've found a new friend anyway (NewEgg.com) but for $10...it's like 100 CR123s at Botach for $50
wink.gif
who would bite...

**EDIT**
I need something self contained because this will mostly be used for School>Home>School transfer. Backpack space is premium!

And, when I want something less self contained than USB memory then I'm going for USB (2.0--or Firewire) hard drive. Expensive up front but (I assume, I'll have to RPN the numbers) cheaper per MB...Carrying 20 gig around with you in the space of a paperback has to be nice...
 

Vikas Sontakke

Enlightened
Joined
May 30, 2002
Messages
860
Our town library has those old Compaq stripped desktop with USB port in the front. But they do not have either CD-drive or floppy. The boxes are all running Win98 and do NOT have the USB mass storage device driver installed. The boxes have fast T1 internet access to the outside world.

There must be a way to install the USB Mass Storage driver on this box via internet. Can somebody give me directions?

I have tiny USB SmartMedia reader and an unused 8MB media card. My home has no highspeed internet connectivity (and can't get it), so I have been trying to figure out how to download some material from the town library.

Thanks,
- Vikas
 

GJW

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
2,030
Location
Bay Area, CA
Do you have anyplace that you could host the drivers like an AOL account or some other FTP account?
If so then you post the drivers on your own site and then link there from the library.
Problem is that if they're that protective then they've probably blocked the installation of new drivers regardless of the source.
The other problem is that Win98 is still very wiggy with any USB storage drivers and Win98SE is only marginally better.
I bought 4 different USB drives before I found one that would work under Win98SE whereas WinME and WinXP seem to work with all of them.
 

Quickbeam

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 19, 2001
Messages
4,329
Location
FlashlightReviews.com
Just thought I'd add 2 cents. I just received my 128 meg JumpDrive (Lexar Media) from TigerDirect - $70 with $20 rebate = $50 final cost. Plug and play in 2000 or ME. It's very nice and tiny as well.

jd_drivers_pic.gif
 

Albany Tom

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Messages
769
Location
Albany, NY
If you're not limited to USB, you could try a parallel port hard drive or zip drive. With a Zip drive, you can run a small command line program you could download from the internet, or mail to yourself via yahoo. You wouldn't have to install anything.j

If you play w/ USB, I think as others have posted you would likely wreck windows unless you upgraded to 98SE.
 

Brock

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 6, 2000
Messages
6,346
Location
Green Bay, WI USA
Now if they could get a 1/8" headphone jack and a MP3 decoder in there you're all set.

I carry a 128meg CF card and I have a PCMCIA adapter to use with the laptop and my old parallel reader at work and USB here at home. My brother, Mom & Dad, and a good friend all have CF readers so I am set whereever I usually go.
 

eluminator

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 7, 2002
Messages
1,750
Location
New Jersey
Floppies are indeed obsolete, but for me the replacement is pocket size CD's. Price is fifty
cents, capacity 185 MB. Okay, 80 cents for the
re-writables.
 

Saaby

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 17, 2002
Messages
7,447
Location
Utah
Eluminator--what is your source for the pocket CD-Rs?

They're just what I need for those times when the USB drive won't cut it...but not all computers (Esp. at school) have CD-Rs.
 

eluminator

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 7, 2002
Messages
1,750
Location
New Jersey
They are available anywhere. They are usually called mini CD's. Compusa has lots of mini CD-R's on pegs by the cash registers. Usually one peg has mini CD-RW's. As you may know, old CD drives can't handle CD-RW, so if you are headed for uncharted waters, better put your stuff on CR-R disks.
 

BuddTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 27, 2001
Messages
2,521
Location
Houston, TX
A friend of mine at work has one of these USB devices. He is a MAC user at home, and of course, everthing at work is Windows based, and he used the device on both his mac and home to transport data.

Very cool!
 
Top