Monday, May 14, 2007

Calling All Computer Geeks! I Need Help!


Last week (ironically, considering the week I had) was Teacher Appreciation Week. This (see picture) is one of the gifts from our principal. Everyone, including me, was thrilled because we are all getting laptops this summer, courtesy of the school corporation.
Here's my problem: I don't know how to use it. I would like to use it to store all my pictures on it, that are now loaded into this computer. How do I do that? The bottom of the package says it is 1 GB.
Help!
J.

14 comments:

e.Craig Crawford said...

It should plug right into your USB Port on your PC. Your PC should assign it a drive letter and call it out as "removable storage, or drive, or something like that.

It's a quick way of transporting your files from one PC to another.

Which OS is your PC using?

Anonymous said...

Heres a really good tutorial:
http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/Flashdrive/

Anonymous said...

Oh that tutorial is for Windows XP. If you need one for mac let me know.
I really don't recommend them for longterm storage. Just for transporting information from one PC to another.

Anonymous said...

uh i like commenting...
For long term storage try and external hardrive that will also connect via USB. E-mail me at geek.geeky AT gmail DOT com if you want more information on this. just let me know.

Jodi said...

Thanks guys.
My Pc uses Windows.

So, I shouldn't move all my pictures on to it and leave them there? I should get an external hard drive for that? Bummer! I thought this thing was my answer to my picture storage problem!Transporting files from one PC to another? What if I don't move files back and forth that much?
What else is it good for?

J.

Unknown said...

You can store on it... In my case I put PC tools or forms I have to fill out regularly. I just don't put stuff on it that is difficult to replace. They tend to corrupt easily, if you want to know why.

Jay said...

Do you have a CD burner? If you do you can just burn all your pics to CDs. You can also store them on sites like photobucket.

You can upload 1,000 pics to Photobucket for free. I know cause I just maxed mine out. All I had to do was create another account though.

There is also Flickr if you want. Some people put them on both Photobucket AND on CDs.

Unknown said...

Yep, CDs would be good. 1 GB isn't very much for picture storage anyhow. But it is cool that they gave you that. And a new laptop? Fantastic!

e.Craig Crawford said...

Actually, J, I think your flash drive is an excellent tool for copying files to another PC.

A CD is a better choice for permanent storage or backup if your PC has a CD burner. Most do nowadays.

Brother Dave said...

J, I have a couple 1-Gig "thumb drives." One of them serves as a second back-up of some files at work. I have never researched the reliability of these devices for long-term storage. These "memory sticks" are apt to be bumped, dropped, jarred, etc. in a way that CDs are not. However, this one device of mine always resides in my desk drawer.

I work off a drive that our IM maintains in a server closet. This server is mirrored on another in a different location. Thus, my work is backed up. My second backup is over a year old, and still seems to function flawlessly. Nonehteless, it seems smart not to depend on a thumb drive solely as your backup medium.

FindingHeart said...

Wow, already lots of good ideas! Try not to let the thumb/key/USB drive become permanent. It's excellent for the sneaker net (walking files from one place to another).

WARNING! Please be aware that the drive needs to be ejected. On most PCs, an icon will pop up in the tray (right side of Task Bar). Click on the little Green Arrow icon and 'remove device'. You'll be able to select the USB Mass Storage device - your key drive. Just pulling out the drive could damage file storage on the drive, thus possibly losing data.

yorksdevil said...

Dead handy things flash memory drives. I've never had a corruption problem with any of mine.

On British telly there's a show which tests gadgets to destruction. They fired one of these things out of a morter at a brick wall and were still able to get the data from it.

Jodi said...

Wow, thanks everyone! I should write about computer stuff more often. It really gets the comments! (grin)

J.

Jennifer said...

Oh, one of my favorite items. I couldn't do my jobs without them. I actually have a whole collection of them. LOL

But they can lose their data sometimes so putting the stuff you absolutely want to keep forever should be done with a CD backup.

Fun!