U3 SmartDrive - Printable Version
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U3 SmartDrive by albert on 01-18-2007 at 01:08 AM
I don't know if people are getting bored with me reporting things I find and love, but until told that I get on your nerves or spam the forums, I want to share with you a beautiful piece of USB key I have bought today.
For those of you who know it, a U3 SmartDrive is basicly a normal USB key, including some way to install the "mobile" software on it, this leading to you being able to run the specific programs and your personal preferences on whichever computer you like.
I have bought a 1GB one (at an wonderful deal of 20$ CAN) and I have to say I am quite amazed. There are quite a few programs on there which are coded to be portable, as
Trilian
Mozilla Firefox
The GIMP
Thunderbird
OpenOfffice
and a lot more ( I have only written the ones I can actually remember ). The only downside of this? Not everyprogram is compatible. For example, my biggst program was the outlook program not available in a mobile version. Therefore, I have to use Thunderbird to check my emails on the go and use firezilla for my calendar and contacts.
Other than that I think this is really cool. It makes it easy to customize a browser and other few programs that you always use.
That ends it for my post, for those of you who already knew about it, and who will now tell me I'm spamming the forum, would you please post some cool portable software site that I might use? It'd be appreciated. 
For the other, nicer members, be free to comment on the U3 technology.
And of course, the U3 webiste : http://www.u3.com/
RE: U3 SmartDrive by Supersonicdarky on 01-18-2007 at 01:17 AM
you could always do that with regular flash drives
http://portableapps.com/
RE: U3 SmartDrive by albert on 01-18-2007 at 01:20 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Supersonicdarky
you could always do that with regular flash drives
http://portableapps.com/
Aren't these applications for U3 SmartDrives?
RE: U3 SmartDrive by Supersonicdarky on 01-18-2007 at 01:22 AM
quote:
works with any hardware you like (USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive, etc)
i dont see whats so special about the u3 drives, any drives could have portable apps on them
RE: U3 SmartDrive by Voldemort on 01-18-2007 at 01:23 AM
And fo just about every other flash drive, tried already 
RE: U3 SmartDrive by ShawnZ on 01-18-2007 at 01:38 AM
those stupid u3 drives suck, they just take their apps from portableapps like supersonicdarky said, and add a bunch of stupid shit like the launchpad
RE: U3 SmartDrive by Nagamasa on 01-18-2007 at 02:21 AM
quote:
Originally posted by alby
I have bought a 1GB one (at an wonderful deal of 20$ CAN)
I got my 2GB Memorex U3 for the same price
I would say its not really useful because I use webmail only (Yahoo! and Windows Live), and I dont usually customize a lot of stuff. It just takes memory away from my drive, and the way it hooks itself onto the computer take longer for 1st time (and I'm not even sure if this thing is allowed at school
)quote:U3s hook themselves onto the computer by 'tricking' it as a disc drive.
Originally posted by Supersonicdarky
i dont see whats so special about the u3 drives, any drives could have portable apps on them
RE: U3 SmartDrive by prashker on 01-18-2007 at 02:23 AM
quote:
Originally posted by alby
quote:
Originally posted by Supersonicdarky
you could always do that with regular flash drives
http://portableapps.com/
Aren't these applications for U3 SmartDrives?
No, I myself got aswell a 4GB (100$ including tax) SanDisk U3 Smart Drive, I hated that technology crap so much, I uninstalled right when it autoloaded for the first time.
I just get Portable Apps from around.
Currently I got Portable Photoshop, VLC and FireFox on my 4GB Stick
.Just use portable apps
.REALLY fails that if you password protect, and someone enters it wrong 5 times, it formats the drive.
quote:
Originally posted by Nagamasa
U3s hook themselves onto the computer by 'tricking' it as a disc drive.
Who cares, you don't really need a disk drive since computers can now all mostly turn on from "Removable Device"'s now.
RE: U3 SmartDrive by ShawnZ on 01-18-2007 at 02:29 AM
quote:
Originally posted by SonicSam
Who cares, you don't really need a disk drive since computers can now all mostly turn on from "Removable Device"'s now.
and since you need the drive to work in the first place so you can install the launchpad, thats useless.... also, what if you're not an administrator?
RE: U3 SmartDrive by ziegas on 01-19-2007 at 12:51 AM
I got 1GB myself and what's good about this U3 is that your files are safe because theres a security code so no one else could open your files. It also have a built in anti virus to scan the host pc that you are going to connect ... in that you are sure that you copy a files free from viruses... tough make sure the virus definition are updated. 
RE: U3 SmartDrive by Supersonicdarky on 01-19-2007 at 02:16 AM
1) you could protect files by making a programwhich does this "portable" (probably)
2) portable apps comes with clamwin, an antivirus.
so basically u3 drives suk, and are worth more