It’s tough to find a USB drive that will stand up under extreme circumstances. While none of us exactly plan to have something bad happen to our device, we all know that things do tend to happen. For instance, your drive could slip out of your pocket, land in the street and promptly be run over by a semi-truck. I’ve seen instances of this happening to someone’s phone… so why is it a stretch to think it could happen with your thumb drive?

If you’re like me, you carry around a USB stick full of important information or programs. We’re Geeks, and we need to have quick access to all of our stuff. It’s important stuff, too, right? So how do we know for sure that the data will be intact if something awful should occur when we least expect it?

The new Lacie Xtremkey USB flash drive can LITERALLY survive being run over by a ten-ton truck. Beginning sometime in August, you can grab this device at a cost beginning of fifty smackers. It ranges from 8GB up to 64GB, as well.

So what makes this model so wonderful? Thanks to the highly-resistant 2mm metal pipe casing, it can survive in nearly any environment and temperature (+200C to -50C). The case features resistant screw threads and a rubber O-ring, which makes it watertight up to about 100 meters of water. It can survive drops of about 16 feet without taking any damage. It’s only 3 inches long and boasts write speeds of up to 30 Mb per second.

The question now becomes: Why WOULDN’T you want this?.

Go Ahead – Run Your USB Drive Over with a Truck

Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes

http://live.pirillo.com/ – A user writes in to ask if there are more apps they can put on a USB stick and run from there? YES! You can put more than just an email and a browser on a USB stick… including an entire operating system!

There are tons of apps that you can throw onto a USB stick and use it. Provided you have enough space on your USB stick, you can have several programs on there all at once.

Here are a few sites that list several of the apps available for use from a USB stick:

• PortableApps.com Tagged as “Your Digital Life: Anywhere.” There is an excellent “new” feature along the right side.
• Makeuseof.com Excellent site with a smaller listing of apps and tools.
• Loosewire.typepad.com is a HUGE site, full of information and portable resources. Separated into easy-to-navigate categories, this comprehensive list even includes Security Programs, a complete VoIP package, and much more.

What other sites and suggestions do you have for our friend? As always, leave me a comment or shoot me an email.

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Free Apps for USB Drives

Don’t ask me why this isn’t documented anywhere, but I have it on good authority that the best USB memory stick to use for Vista’s ReadyBoost is an Apacer Handy Steno – the 2GB version. Apacer also has a 4GB version, although it’s been reported that the 4GB model has reliability issues (though I don’t know how “reliablity” is defined or charted). No matter, Microsoft is apparently using Apacer USB sticks for the ultimate speed boost (ReadyBoost) in Vista. From Mwave, a list of features:

• All in one design: to avoid losing the cover
• USB 2.0 Interface: Truly plug and play
• Slender body makes USB ports accessible
• High capacity support
• Docking included for user-friendly usage
• High performance (Max.) *: Read speed-25MB/sec. & Write speed-14MB/sec.
• LED indicates data transfer in transferred
• Security/Booting/Formatting/Compressing functions
• Write Speed around 14000 KB / sec.
• Read Speed around 25000 KB / sec.

I would rather get the 4GB model than the 2GB one (for obvious reasons), but not if there are stability / consistency issues. Anybody else have experiences with Apacer? That’s a brand I just haven’t heard of before.

The Fastest Flash Drive

So, one of the nifty new features of Windows Vista is ReadyBoost – a feature that enables you to plug in a USB 2.0 Thumb Drive and have it show up as physical memory in your system. I wanted to give this a shot, so I rushed out and picked up the highest capacity USB 2.0 drive that I could find: A PNY Attache 4.0GB USB stick. I plugged ‘er in, selected the “Speed up my System” AutoPlay option, and waited for the magic to happen. Turns out, it’s not fast enough!? Okay, so back to the store I’ll go – looking for a high-capacity, high-speed USB 2.0 thumb drive to ReadyBoost my Vista laptop. Since Microsoft isn’t making any recommendations, I need to start compiling a list of which sticks work and which ones won’t. Gotta find a Wiki plugin for WordPress!

Vista ReadyBoost