As our society increasingly values mobility, the need to carry data with us becomes more important as well. While we can always schlep around notebook PCs, PDAs, and even music players, sometimes you just want a tiny repository for miscellaneous bits of information. On a more mundane level, having portable storage is also very handy in moving drivers and software updates around when you cant use e-mail or networking.
Of course, portable storage isnt useful without a means to transfer data to and from the device. The ubiquity of todays USB 2.0 interface – present on almost all modern Intel-based PCs and Apple Macintosh computers – has finally given us a relatively high-speed interface for data transfers. Software support has also arrived, with the latest Macintosh and Microsoft operating systems offering native support for USB drives.
This universality has given rise to portable USB storage drives. These tiny devices fit in your pocket and offer capacities ranging from a nearly-useless 16MB to a covetable 1GB. Unfortunately, that 1GB storage drive would set you back around $260.
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