USB flash drives, also called jump drives, thumb drives, pin drives and USB drives, are some of the most useful portable storage devices to come down the pike in a long time. These handy little gadgets are capable of carrying relatively large amounts of data in a very small, fits-right-in-your-shirt-pocket package. And there are lots of ways to use them.
Installation
The lovely thing about the USB drive is that it requires no software installation. You can plug it directly into any relatively up-to-date computer with a USB port. Windows XP and Vista, Linux and Mac operating systems all automatically recognize the drive when you plug it in.
Finding the drive
Once you've plugged the USB drive in, watch for your operating system to let you know it's ready to go. In Windows, this will be a small flag in the lower right-hand side of your screen. You may then go to your browser, where you will find the drive listed among your hard drives, CD, DVD and other flash drives. Simply double click on the drive and a window will open, allowing you to see what is on the drive. The drives come preformatted for windows, so you usually don't have to tinker with the formatting.
Loading and Unloading
To move files to and from the USB flash drive, simply open a second window for the drive with which you want to exchange files. Then drag and drop the files from the computer's folder to the USB drive's folder, or from the USB folder to the computer. The files remain on the USB folder until you delete them. You can also save your files directly from software applications by choosing the drive directly from the "save" options within your software.
Other Uses for USB Flash Drives
You can use USB flash drives for anything for which you'd use any other drive. You can use it to boot a computer with a damaged hard drive. It can carry music, video and audiobooks. You can play movies, books and CDs directly from the USB flash drive. It can serve in an emergency to back up your critical, "can't lose" files quickly if your hard drive starts acting up. You can carry them on key chains, in a purse or shirt pocket for those times when when you're out and about and someone wants to give you a file to review. Name it--if another computer storage device can do it, odds are the USB flash drive can too.
Safely Removing the Flash Drive
People often simply pull a USB flash drive out of the port when they are ready to go. You can ensure no problems occur if you move your cursor down to the lower left side of the task bar and hover over the icon for the flash drive. A menu will pop up that says "Safely remove hardware," with a drive number beside it. If there is more than one choice, make sure you choose the correct drive number that has been assigned to your USB drive. Click on that choice and wait until it tells you "safe to remove hardware." USB drives will generally handle being pulled straight out, but using the procedure above ensures you don't damage it or pull it in the middle of a file download.
