[Web4lib] U3 Thumb Drives

[Darryl Friesen]

[Tried this a few days ago without luck. I'm sending agains now that Web4Lib
looks like it's healthy again]


> Another weird point about U3 that might cause confusion (as it did in 
> our lab only moments ago) is that the little guy *appears* to exist on 
> two drives.  A student saw his device apparently there as E:\ and was 
> frustrated that nothing could be saved.  Backing up and noticing that 
> something was happening in F:\ as well eventually saved the day.

Yes, it mounts 2 devices.  The first appears to Windows as a CD-ROM (which
is why you can't save anything to it).  The Launchpad software is here and
is started automatically using the standard Windows auto-run feature that
all other CDs use.  The second drive mounted is the remainder of the USB
key, and functions like any other removable drive.

They really are awesome devices, for staff anyway.  I have Thunderbird,
Firefox, Trillian and PuTTY all installed on my U3 device.  Since they are
self-contained on the USB key I can walk up to any machine and browse the
net, read my email, and login to our servers.  For anyone doing support,
they're worth thinking about.  Even for the somewhat more savvy student, I
think they're useful.  Once they realize what they have and how to use it.

- Darryl

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  Darryl Friesen, B.Sc., Programmer/Analyst    Darryl.Friesen at usask.ca
  Information Technology Services Division,     http://gollum.usask.ca/
  University of Saskatchewan Library
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  "Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes"