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I can tackle a few parts of this, Kevin, but I suspect others will have
more detail. I have carted around Portable Apps on a stick for quite
some time, from PC to PC. Most of the applications I use somewhat
sporadically. I'm just trying Open Office on my new laptop, so that's
not ready for commentary yet, nor for testing on a stick. My current
primary stick is an 8 GB, which is more than ample for me, and I've had
it for more than a year. My hunch is that 4 GB and 8 GB sticks remain
the best bang for your buck, unless you have a big need for more and/or
find a very good sale. I don't think there's any appreciable difference,
for my work at least, between say a SanDisk, a PNY, or a Geek Squad
stick. I have used both SanDisk and PNY quite extensively for several
years. There might be some more security features in one type of stick;
the Portable Apps interface may be more intrusive (er, ready to help) in
another.
My current roster of tools on the stick, Portable Apps or otherwise --
and some beginning to wax long in the tooth, includes:
I've considered adding The Gimp Portable to my roster as well, but to
date just have not done that much photo editing on the road. I've used
all of these programs with varying intensity. If I had to guess, I may
use Sumatra most -- it's quick and dirty when I'm somewhere where
Acrobat or Reader aren't available, and I have a lot of PDFs on my
drive.
HTH,
Jim
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of McLauchlan, Kevin
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 11:12 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: [TOOLS] Portable Apps and picking a stick
Is anybody on the list working primarily with portable apps, by any
chance? What's your story?
Anybody moving among Windows and Mac machines? Can you use Portable Apps
with Parallels?
To carry a big suite of portable apps (and a variety of projects - data)
I'm looking to get a larger (16GB or 32GB) USB memory stick. The prices
are all over the map, even at same sites.
How to tell if you are looking at the higher-priced unit of a given size
because:
a) it's new, but it's better/stronger/faster
vs
b) it's old and is left-over stock from the expensive introductory
production run before they turned it into a commodity and got better at
making that size?
Similarly, how do you tell if you are looking at the cheapest one in a
particular size because:
a) it's latest generation and they've simply ramped up the volume and
tweaked the production methods to the point where it is dirt-cheap to
make good ones...
vs
b) it's same generation as the more expensive ones (at this size), but
the maker just cuts corners and uses cheap shoddy materials?
I know how I determine similar questions about bigger tech items - the
feature sheet and the language of the blurb will usually offer clues.
But many sites don't even bother with feature lists of basic items like
USB thumb drives. All they'll tell you is USB 2.0 and 32GB. If you
don't get a clue like "ruggedized case", how to know if anything
justifies a cost difference? Often a trip to the manufacturer site is
fruitless because they are showing newer models (that haven't made it
over here yet) or they don't identify the re-branded ones that they make
for other companies.
Yeah-yeah, $50 bucks isn't going to kill me if I guess wrong, but I'd be
keeping data on there as well as apps, AND my time (to load up another
one after the junker fails) is worth money, too. What do y'all consider
when buying these things?
I've thought of getting a small external hard drive (or making one from
a tiny laptop drive in a USB case) - larger capacity and faster access -
but that's definitely bigger in a pocket, more of a drag on a laptop
battery, etc., etc. Thoughts?
Kevin McLauchlan
Senior Technical Writer
SafeNet, Inc.
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