4 lesser-known issues I do with outdated USB drives

I’ve a variety of outdated USB drives mendacity round. A budget storage answer is most well-known for being a straightforward technique to retailer Phrase docs and PDFs, however they’ll accomplish that rather more.

Do you know that with a USB drive you may create an encrypted locker for all your passwords? When you’ve got an outdated USB drive mendacity round, you may simply upcycle it and get extra use out of it. Listed below are the 4 ways in which I prefer to upcycle my outdated USB drives.

1

Experiment with a conveyable OS

Be taught a brand new OS equivalent to Linux with a USB drive and persistence

Linux Mint

Putting in a bootable OS on a USB drive is a breeze. All you may must do is obtain whichever ISO recordsdata from whichever OS you need, after which use a third-party device (I choose Rufus) to create a bootable drive. Should you’re utilizing a Home windows-based pc, you may must entry your pc’s UEFI/BIOS, which will be accomplished by urgent the designated key (usually your F1 key, however verify your producer first) at startup. When you’re within the BIOS, search for a tab referred to as boot order, and choose the USB drive.

The method is definitely a bit easier on macOS, as you will not must obtain Rufus or any third-party applications, and may do the complete course of, together with booting from the USB drive with the built-in macOS Disk Utility characteristic. You will nonetheless must obtain the OS ISO recordsdata to your USB flash drive, after which plug the drive in and entry the Disk Utility software.

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2

Play your favourite video games

You may also retailer and run video games immediately on a USB drive

Nintendo

Along with storing and working an OS from a USB drive, you are able to do the identical factor together with your favourite video games. It is a straightforward technique to journey together with your favourite video games, and it means that you can run video games on a pc with out having to put in video games on a number of computer systems.

You may also simply transfer video games from Steam to your USB drive and play them immediately from there. Nonetheless, you may want a USB drive that’s each quick and has a variety of house. I like to recommend utilizing any drive that’s licensed USB 3.0 or greater for velocity and to be sure to have sufficient house in your video games.

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3

Automate file backups

Do not lose crucial recordsdata

Google / Pocket-lint

There are extra methods than ever to again up essential recordsdata and folders that you may’t afford to lose. Nonetheless, one of many easiest methods to again up what’s most essential to you, is by utilizing a USB drive as a backup location. One of many main advantages of utilizing a USB drive to again up recordsdata, is that you may then entry your most essential recordsdata from anyplace, because of the compact portability of USB drives.

The best approach to do that is to make use of a third-party backup program. I personally have been utilizing Arconis True Image to do that, however remember that Arconis shouldn’t be free and can run you $50/yr.

On each Home windows and macOS, you may at all times manually backup recordsdata by way of drag and drop from the file tree, however if you would like the power to rapidly and routinely backup recordsdata to a USB drive, you may desire a third-party program.

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Create a conveyable media library with 1000’s of songs

Whereas there are a variety of high-tech methods to create a private media library — equivalent to making a NAS or Plex server — one of many easiest methods to create a conveyable media library is with a easy USB drive. Now that there are USB drives in the marketplace which might be able to as much as 1TB or storage that you should use for a variety of films, music, and e-books to take them anyplace with you.

It is a good way to have the ability to entry your media from a number of computer systems, and it makes touring together with your favourite media simple. You do not have to fret about carrying additional drives in your bag or fear about whether or not you may have web entry, as every part you need to convey will be saved domestically on the USB drive.