A USB Smart drive is not that complicated. Seeing as you can autorun programs off any media inserted into a Windows computer, thats all a Smart USB Drive is. In the root of the drive is the autorun.inf file and the launcher program.
However, there are several things you can do with a USB drive aside from running U3, Ceedo, MoJoPac, or PortableApps.
With a USB Drive you can -
- Install a bootible Linux distribution
- Store your music
OR - Run Malicious Code the same way U3, Ceedo, MoJoPac, or PortableApps runs.
My choices are Linux and PortableApps. Why? Because they’re FREE. If you have a USB drive, I URGE you to go and look at PortableApps. It works under Windows, including Vista. If you have a U3 drive, thats okay too… I use one as well.
My main exploration of the next month with my USB drive will be to install a bootable copy of Linux on a drive. Why? Because I like Linux and having a boot USB can be a real life saver should I need to save a system. Best thing, I can make it under Windows.
All I’ll need is a PC that can boot from USB Drives… and I have that.
U3, Ceedo, MoJoPac, and PortableApps allow you to run all sorts of programs off your USB Drive that never touch the host PC. This means there is nothing left behind on the host PC to show what website you visited or what program you ran… provided it was run from the USB.
Ceedo and MoJoPac have a feature that will allow you to install a wide variety of regular (that is programs not designed to be run from USB Drives) programs from the USB Drive. They have a special installer that will allow you to install, for example, Office 2003 on your USB. U3 and PortableApps don’t have this option.
U3 is only sold installed on NEW USB Drives while Ceedo, MoJoPac, and PortableApps can be added to any USB Drive. The prices for Ceedo, MoJoPac, and PortableApps range from $50.00 to Free. Only PortableApps is open source (and free).
U3 works on Windows, to include Vista if you have U3 Launcher version 1.4 or higher. I have a drive by PNY and it doesn’t work under Vista. Tech Support told me that a Vista-Enabled version of U3 for their drives will be ready by the end of Q2 2007… so I wait.
Ceedo and PortableApps both are able to run on Vista.
MoJoPac is working on a Vista version… maybe available in mid/late March. MoJoPac is also the only version that has an interface that looks like crap.
For more information, look here.
Smart Drive Resources:
Popularity: 2% [?]
