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1GB USB Drive on a Keychain
sparcv9 writes "JMTek looks to be about ready to release a line of keychain-sized
USB drives, ranging in capacity from 16MB to 1GB. The
1GB models are a bit pricey at almost
$900US, but the 16, 32 and 64MB models are all under $100. These
devices require no external power supply, claim a data retention of 10 years, and are 'driverless' -- which means that the drives will work under Linux, according to JMTek (see the 'Operating Systems' row in the specs table.)"
Various companies make them (flash USB key drives), they are a VERY nice solution for sneakerneting, however the reliability sometimes SUCKS (typical consumer grade, not tested before shipping).
We ordered 2 of em from a different company, one worked fine and dandy, the other had a bad connection somewhere internally and would crash the USB bus and only mount about 1/8 of the time. They were $80 each for 64 MB versions (a good price, mind you), but next time, we will only buy locally, so that returns can be much easier.
Test your net with Netalyzr
USB defines a generic storage device. A wide range of products, from actual harddrives to pseudo-drives can be used without any *additional* device drivers. This is why Win98 needs an update -- it didn't come with the generic storage device drivers.
I can already stick a cdrw in my pocket
Uninnovate - Only the finest in engineering.
Because there is a standard driver for USB harddrives. If you follow the standard in making your harddrive (or memory card drive) it will work without additional drivers. BUT! it does require the operating system to know this standards, win98 doesn't have the standard driver (thats why it says on bottom, comes with windows 98 driver), windows 2000, ME, and XP include this driver, as well as Mac OS 8.6 and above. Linux 2.4 comes with standard driver, but linux 2.2 doesn't. You can get the driver for linux 2.2 though.
Win NT dose not support USB at all in any way shape or form.
Well, I can tell you what is bad for...Security. Especially with win2000/XP automatic detection of USB devices it could be used as a effective delivery device for worm/virus packages to machines without or with protected email and Internet access. With the 1gig size you could certainly steal a lot of data very easily. So what if you the most secure firewall and email protection. Are you screening your maintenance people, your temp workers? With a little social engineering this device could be very dangerous, easy to conceal, even through metal detectors with the phrase "Oh, my keys set it off". Sorry if I'm little excited about it, I'm just a Spy Novel fan and have a really good caffeine buzz too.
Dell has been selling 8-32Mb versions for more than a year, but they require a driver install
"Get them before they get....
My Sony Clie have proggie called MS Import (MS=Memory Stick) which when running makes it
behave like USB storage device. I just put my Memory Stick card into it, run this program, plug it via
USB cable to Linux and I can mount it as SCSI drive,
having access to all my files on it. Best thing about it, is that you can have several cards.
Yes, it is bigger than keychain, but what the heck,
I carry my PDA with me all the time anyway!