Imagine carrying your favourite software, preferences, profiles and data on a device considerably smaller than a pack of gum. That’s exactly what you can do with a U3 smart drive such as Kingston’s U3 DataTraveler. With the U3 DataTraveler you can plug into any Windows XP or 2000 PC and be productive wherever you are - work, play a game, message friends, send e-mail, edit photos - all without worrying if applications are installed on the computer.

As well as being a 2GB (1MB version also available for just £25 compared to £55) USB flash memory stick, the U3 DataTraveler comes pre-installed with a number of applications that let you work securely on any Windows computer. There are also a number of other third-party U3 applications available - including Mozilla’s excellent Thunderbird e-mail client - should your needs be specific.

The U3 DataTraveler hosts a ‘personal workspace’ - not only your data and files, but software programs, personal preferences, passwords and settings, and the means for managing them - all in a highly secure environment. When the drive is removed, the computer remains unaltered and no personal information is left behind.

But why would you want to install applications onto a U3 smart drive rather than onto a computer? Well, once applications are installed on the hard disk drive of a desktop or laptop computer, they become non-portable and locked onto that machine. By saving your applications on the U3 DataTraveler, you have the choice to use them on any PC wherever is most convenient.

By storing applications and files on the U3 DataTraveler, you also avoid installation of a program onto your computer that may only be used a few times. In addition, when applications are installed on the drive, system files are only loaded when the applications run, not at the time the computer starts up, thus reducing compatibility issues, improving system stability, and increasing overall performance.

You can also avoid carrying your laptop and instead conduct your work on any PC. The U3 DataTraveler can also be used in the same way as any hard disk drive. This includes drag and drop, creating files, renaming files, deleting files, and so on.

Although U3 smart drives are only supported on systems running Windows 2000 and XP, as long as your drive is not password protected you can use a U3 smart drive in the same way as any other USB flash drive on unsupported operating systems. If the U3 smart drive is password protected, you will need to use it on supported operating systems.

The U3 DataTraveler contains two virtual drives, a CD drive and a removable drive. The CD drive contains the Launchpad program and is automatically run when the drive is inserted into the computer (as long as the auto-run disk capability is enabled on the computer). The CD drive is read only. The removable drive contains the bundled applications that are provided by Kingston. These include a trial version of Pass2Go (password manager), limited edition version of ACDSee (photo manager), and Zinio (digital textbook and magazine app). More software can be purchased at www.u3.com.

Pass2Go is the portable version of RoboForm software. It memorises your passwords, and bookmarks and automatically logs you into online accounts and fills long registration and checkout forms. This trialware version gives you full functionality for 60 days. After the trial period, you can continue with the full version at a Kingston discounted price of $19.99 (originally $39.99). Without the full version purchase, continue to use Pass2Go with modified functionality. For example, the number of allowed passwords will be reduced to ten and identities to two.

ACDSee is a trial version of ACDSee’s excellent digital photo management software. It has all the fundamental tools for you to manage digital photos with speed and ease. It supports JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIF and PNG file formats with limited toolbar customisation, batch processing and archive functions. This limited version does not expire, but you can upgrade to the full version for more powerful photo management features at a Kingston discounted price of $19.99 (originally $49.99).

Zinio’s digital publications gives you unlimited use of the Zinio reader with an initial trial of up to four issues of some of the world’s leading magazines in digital format. Whether on or offline, it provides convenient, paperless reading from any PC with subscriptions available at a substantial discount over newsstand prices.

U3 programs installed on the U3 DataTraveler can only be run through the U3 ‘Launchpad’, so you can’t extract them and install them onto your computer. To run these programs you need to insert the U3 DataTraveler into one of the USB ports on your computer and start the ‘Launchpad’ utility by clicking on the U3 icon on the taskbar. The ‘Launchpad’ main window is then displayed. From here you can select the required U3 program from the list of programs displayed on the left side of the ‘Launchpad’ main window.

Mobility is a necessity and drive capacities are increasing exponentially. Security is a mandatory element in every aspect of computing. Personalisation is pervasive - from the iPod to PDAs to smartphones to the desktop, everyone wants their computing environment to be personal and represent the way they work and play. The U3 platform is an exciting innovation and Kingston’s U3 DataTraveler is an excellent implementation. In many ways, using a U3 DataTraveler is a lot like carrying around your very own personal computer on a flash drive, and those concerned with using a public computer will like the extra security. [8]

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BIOS, Apr 26, 06 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Backup