Floppy is Dead, Welcome U3!

Dell and other OEM's (Original Equipment Manufacturers) have stopped shipping their pc's with a 3.5" floppy drive unless you ask for it specifically.

The USB Flash/Jump Drive has been out for awhile we first had 128 & 256MB flash drives. Shortly later the 512, 1GB and now 2GB Flash devices hit the market. Jump Drive or Flash Disk is becoming a household term. While the original flash drive is a great tool, it too is becoming a thing of the past.

Say hello to the new U3 flash devices, developed by Sandisk and M-Systems the U3 has a small, 4MB read-only system partition that pretends to be a CD-ROM drive, while the data partition shows up as a regular flash drive. Because Windows thinks that the system partition is a CD, U3 takes advantage of the AutoPlay feature in windows to automatically run the U3 LaunchPad and unlock the data partition of the drive. U3 will run on any Windows 2000/XP system.

The LaunchPad is the cool centerpiece of the U3 smart drive, and it looks somewhat similar to the Windows XP start menu, no doubt by design. The LaunchPad provides quick access to software and documents installed on the U3.

Just when you thought that flash drives couldn't get any bigger the latest Sandisk U3 capable Flash Drive is a 4GB drive that sells for around $100.00. U3 Apps are on the loose and we are already seeing FreeWare or Open Source Applications for your U3 device that will let you do things like create documents, email, portable browsers that let you take your browser customizations and Favorites/Links with you!

Here's a great site for Portable Apps. http://portableapps.com/
Media Players, Browsers, and more!