Uses for Your Flash Drive

Uses Overview   |   At Work   |   At Home   |   At School

How valuable is your data? If you are at college or university, it is highly probably that all your course work - research, assignments, essays and so forth, are stored on your computer's hard drive.

At some point, however, you may want to back up your data; or share some of that research with your colleagues; or show the photos on the other side of the campus. You can do all of that, and a whole lot more, with a USB Flash Drive.

If you're working on more than one computer, or if you're sharing a computer, you may want to keep a backup of your work, that will need to be continually updated. You can do this quickly using a USB Flash Drive, and it's so much easier than continually writing and rewriting CDs and DVDs.

School applications:

• Backup and archiving
  We all know it's good to backup our computers while we carry out routine maintenance, but do we ever do it? Until now, it's been a painfully slow process, or has required external drives or disc writers, and we have simply put it off until tomorrow. However, with a USB Flash Drive, it couldn't be easier: simply plug the drive into your USB port, click on My Computer or Windows Explorer and your Flash Drive will appear as an additional drive. If you use a Mac, the drive will automatically appear as an icon on your desktop. Drag the files from your computer onto the drive's icon and you're done. You will instantly have a safe and secure backup of your most important files.
  
  
• File Sharing
  Sharing a presentation or group project with a fellow student or teacher couldn't be easier. Simply copy your files to a Flash drive and hand it off.
  
  
• Working between multiple locations
  Flash drives provide a simple means to complete that important project at class, home, in the lab or in your dorm. Why stay late when you can download files onto your USB Flash Drive, take it home and finish it later?
  
  
• Convenience and compatibility
  USB Flash Drives are tiny, which means that they can easily be carried with you wherever you go; hang one on your key ring, clip it to your bag, carry it on a lanyard around your neck, or slip it into your shirt pocket. And connecting via USB is simple: it's compatible with virtually all computers and you can plug it in and use the drive instantly without having to load any additional software.
  
  

Convenience and compatibility
Don't have time to fiddle with external devices? With a USB Flash Drive, you don't have to. Simply plug the drive into your USB socket and watch it load onto your desktop, click on My Computer or Windows Explorer and the Flash Drive will appear as an additional drive. If you use a Mac, just watch as your Flash Drive appears as an icon on your desktop. Drag the files from your computer onto the drive's icon and you're done. And connecting via USB is great news: it's compatible with virtually all computers without having to load any additional software. Easy data storage so you can get on with your work.

Capacity
Flash Drive capacity is increasing rapidly to keep pace with the ever-increasing demands that are placed on them. With capacities of 4GB and higher, drives exist that can store a full length movie at DVD quality. Flash memory offers incredible capacity in devices that are so small and lightweight, they can hang off your key ring or fit totally unnoticed into a shirt pocket.

Versatility
Recent developments in Flash drives mean that many offer a variety of additional functionality, from data encryption and fingerprint recognition right up to MP3 playback and digital image capture.

Design
Flash drives are offered in a range of sizes, shapes and styles. Imation's range of Flash drives not only look sleek and sophisticated, but offer a variety of unique features to simplify the transfer, protection and storage of your information.

Security
In order to help you protect your information, Flash drives are offered with a range of password protection or encryption utilities.



Do flash drives devices require power to work?
Yes, USB 2.0 Flash Drives do require power to read from or write to a memory cell. Your computer's USB connector interface can supply bidirectional data and low power to the device connected to it. The Imation USB 2.0 Flash Drives draw very little power and do not need an external power supply. Once your information has been written to the drive, no power is needed to maintain the data.

Are the USB 2.0 flash drives backwards compatible with USB 1.1 ports?
Yes. Windows XP will display a message stating that your Flash device will work faster on a USB 2.0 port, but the drive should function without problems in a USB 1.1 port.