Software Reviews: business and educational--Flash Drives: You Got to Get One!

Cyber News and Reviews is a monthly column published since 1995 for parents, teachers and small business and home business owners offering articles on some of the best computer products available. I cover business software, education, entertainment with freeware and shareware, and some hardware too. Over the years, I've reviewed computer programs from Microsoft, Knowledge Adventure (Davidson) and others. When my kids were young, they couldn't wait for the software to arrive and have fun testing the games and lessons with me. And, in the past few years they've contributed some of their own reviews with opinions. The best advice on software is from the children who use it. Also, many of the business programs reviewed are useful for home business and small business owners. HB

Flash Drives: You Got to Get One!

By Howard Berenbon

If you recently purchased a new desktop computer, you may have noticed they no longer include a 3.5” internal floppy disk drive for storage. Those 3.5” drives have become obsolete since the introduction of the recordable CD, now included in all new desktop computers. Recording your data on CD is really great for archiving, but if you just want to move a few files to another computer or even move a lot of files and don’t want to wait for the CD to format and spend more time transferring your data, you should consider an inexpensive Flash drive. These are neat little USB devices (about the size of a small keychain) that quickly plug into your USB port on the front of your machine (or in the back), and can move lots of data, fast. They have a fixed amount of RAM memory starting at around 128 MB and up to 8 GB (or more), but most I’ve seen on sale have at least 1 GB. Several manufacturers are making them, and that’s good because competition helps keep the price down.

I recently purchased a 2 GB drive, the Cruzer by SandDisk on sale at OfficeMax for just $29.95 (originally marked $79.95). I could have bought a 1 GB version for just $14.95, but opted for the larger storage capacity. You never know when you’re going to have to transfer files from an older machine—don’t want to be caught with too little memory storage, just in case.

I’ve seen Flash drives on sale for as low as $12.95 for a 1 GB device, to $49.95 for a 4 GB drive. They usually retail for much more (up to $149.95), so it’s best to wait for a sale before you buy one. For my application, a 1 or 2 GB is more than enough to transfer most of the data from one computer to another, or to keep important files for backup purposes. All the office supply chains and computer and electronic stores carry them, and prices vary greatly.

Flash Drive Manufacturers

ATP
Buslink
Connect Computers
CompUSA
Dane Electric
Kingston
Lexar
Memorex
MicroGem
OCZ Technology
Nspire
PNY
SanDisk
Sony
Swissbit
TechSolutions
Toshiba
Verbatim

Business Software Reviewed & Educational Software Reviews since 1995 - Anti-spyware and virus detection and protection programs