August 16th, 2006
Portable office on your USB flash drive
I don’t know what I’d do without my USB flash drives. Over the years they have evolved from being a mere storage device where I dumped files that I wanted to take with me when I was on the move into a platform in their own right. With the aid of a few software applications and utilities (some free, some not), you can do the same to your USB flash drive.
The first thing that you need is a USB flash drive that has decent capacity. The more capacity you have the better, really. You can probably get away with using a 512MB drive but I think that 1GB is better, while 2GB is ideal. This allows you to have plenty of storage space for applications while leaving you with enough space for files and backups. My current flash drive of choice is a 2GB Kingston Data Traveler Elite Privacy Edition. I like this drive because everything I load onto it is password protected and encrypted using 128-bit hardware-based AES encryption.
OK, so you have your flash drive, what applications can you load onto it? There are plenty to choose from!
My main email client is Microsoft Outlook, so there’s no chance of installing that onto a USB flash drive and making it portable. However, I have found a great software utility called DmailerSync Plus which allows me to clone my Outlook data (emails, contacts, tasks and so on) and access them from the USB drive. On top of that, DmailerSync Plus also allows me to create a copy of my Internet Explorer and Firefox favorites and also any files that I select and take these with me too. Everything I need to access my data and even send and receive email is stored on the USB drive.
For added piece of mind, everything is password protected and encrypted using 128-bit AES.
The great thing about DmailerSync Plus is that it’s not just confined to USB flash drives - you can install it onto memory cards, iPods, PDAs and even the Sony PSP - so there’s no excuse not to have your Outlook data with you all the time!
DmailerSync Plus costs $39.95.
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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| 08/17/06
