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USB Flash Drive Round-up
Adam writes "Ars has published a massive USB 2.0 Hi-speed Flash drive roundup, with 10 USB
2.0 flash drives that they've tested on three OSes. They rate the drives by performance, durability, and features/accessories (including the crappy software that no one uses).
Definitely a good read for anyone who has recently sat on their USB thumbdrive!"
Still, the most important feature is that it's bootable. (And some still aren't) I love having Feather Linux on a keychain. The Cruzer Mini has done me well.
(\_/)
(O.o) This is Bunny. (> <)
i bought one, and I'm not really happy with it : if you attach the drive at your keychain, you can NOT insert the drive in a USB port without the keys : the litlle cord is FIXED on the drive ! This is very annoying, since I have quite a bunch of keys (10+.. hey, there's a poll suggestion) and the whole mess tends to get tangled between the KVM cables.
if you buy a drive : make sure you can unplug it from whatever it is attached to. But make sure that the drive itself doesn't unplug too easily : I lost my previous drive cause the click-'n-hold system wore off and it would unplug at the slightest pull
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
They excluded all mp3 players from the review.
If they added mp3 players, the review would have grown from 12 devices to 30.
However, if I had a choice between a 512MB Flash Drive for $60, and a 512MB Flash Drive/mp3 player for $99, I would definately consider the latter.
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
1GB iPod Shuffle: $149
The prices of the reviewed drives (according to the comparison matrix at the end of the article) are $77, $120, $116, $138, $86, $127, $108, $80, and $80 for each of the 1GB models. Not only is EVERY drive reviewed cheaper than a 1GB iPod Shuffle, but 4 of the 1GB drives are cheaper than the 512MB iPod Shuffle. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod Shuffle, but it is NOT cheaper than these drives.
And while you're futzing around picking out how to limit what they can get to, they dump the memory of the thing and start parsing.
Remember, USB only works where there's a host controller. That host has to be trusted. If it's not, your data is screwed.
A Firewire (IEEE-1394) keychain drive would be much more secure for what you're describing, since the keychain drive would be in a point-to-point communication mode with that untrusted store machine. It wouldn't rely on an untrusted host that might force it to do what you didn't ask it to do. I'm surprised nobody's made a Firewire keychain drive already. It would be a faster and more secure (though a bit less universal) alternative to USB-based drives.
You're referring to the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identifier) number. This is sent to the carrier network along with every "hello", and is unique to the device (Although it is possible to reflash new IMEI numbers to some phones). In theory any phone can be pulled from all networks across the world once it is reported stolen, which is why phone companies tell you to keep the box and write down the IMEI number.
For the curious, dialling *#06# on most phones will show you the IMEI of the handset.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?