4 lesser-known issues I do with outdated USB drive...

I’ve quite a lot of outdated USB drives mendacity round. A budget storage resolution is most well-known for being a simple approach to retailer Phrase docs and PDFs, however they’ll accomplish that way more.

Do you know that with a USB drive you possibly can create an encrypted locker for all your passwords? If in case you have an outdated USB drive mendacity round, you possibly can simply upcycle it and get extra use out of it. Listed here are the 4 ways in which I prefer to upcycle my outdated USB drives.

1

Experiment with a transportable OS

Study a brand new OS resembling Linux with a USB drive and persistence

Linux Mint

Putting in a bootable OS on a USB drive is a breeze. All you will have to do is obtain whichever ISO information from whichever OS you want, after which use a third-party device (I choose Rufus) to create a bootable drive. Should you’re utilizing a Home windows-based laptop, you will have to entry your laptop’s UEFI/BIOS, which will be achieved by urgent the designated key (usually your F1 key, however examine 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 less complicated on macOS, as you will not have to obtain Rufus or any third-party packages, and may do your entire course of, together with booting from the USB drive with the built-in macOS Disk Utility characteristic. You may nonetheless have to obtain the OS ISO information to your USB flash drive, after which plug the drive in and entry the Disk Utility utility.

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2

Play your favourite video games

You too can retailer and run video games straight 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 simple approach to journey together with your favourite video games, and it permits you to run video games on a pc with out having to put in video games on a number of computer systems.

You too can simply transfer video games from Steam to your USB drive and play them straight from there. Nonetheless, you will want a USB drive that’s each quick and has quite a lot of house. I like to recommend utilizing any drive that’s licensed USB 3.0 or increased for velocity and to ensure you have sufficient house on your video games.

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3

Automate file backups

Do not lose essential information

Google / Pocket-lint

There are extra methods than ever to again up essential information and folders which you could’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 information, is which you could then entry your most essential information from wherever, due to the compact portability of USB drives.

The best manner 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 just isn’t free and can run you $50/yr.

On each Home windows and macOS, you possibly can all the time manually backup information through drag and drop from the file tree, however if you would like the flexibility to shortly and mechanically backup information to a USB drive, you will need a third-party program.

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Create a transportable media library with 1000’s of songs

Whereas there are quite a lot of high-tech methods to create a private media library — resembling making a NAS or Plex server — one of many easiest methods to create a transportable media library is with a easy USB drive. Now that there are USB drives in the marketplace which are able to as much as 1TB or storage that you need to use for a variety of flicks, music, and e-books to take them wherever 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 will have web entry, as every thing you wish to carry will be saved regionally on the USB drive.