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THE USB FLASH DRIVE

Brian Grainger

brian@grainger1.freeserve.co.uk

The Apple i-Mac was innovative in many ways, but probably the most obvious was that it did not come with a built in floppy drive. At the time commentators were saying that the floppy disk was finished. I had reservations and until very recently I maintained that the humble floppy had a role to play. This article discusses the USB Flash Drive, a device that has been around for a while now, and how I see it taking over from the floppy.

Let's start by asking, what purpose did the floppy disk serve? In the days before hard drives it performed two roles. It was a data storage medium that retained its contents when you switched off the PC. It was also used to store the programs that your PC would run.

When the hard disk came along it took the role of data storage medium. Of course, programs were also stored on there but they were still sold to you on floppy disks. While the hard disk was used to store data that was used daily the floppy was still used as a backup and for archiving purposes. The other great advantage of the floppy was that you could use it to transfer data from one machine to another. They had to be the same type of machine, such as two Amigas or two PCs, but not an Amiga and a PC. This was no great problem. As the IBM PC compatible became ubiquitous this was the main transfer required, especially between home and work.

As time went on and processors got more powerful and programs got bigger the floppy became rather difficult to use as a means of selling software. I remember buying Microsoft Office 4.2. This came on 26 3-1/2" floppies, with 7 more if you had Microsoft Access as well. All were religiously copied to a backup before an attempt at installation was made.

Fortunately, the CD-ROM came along and this was to become the prime medium for buying software. Floppies were still used for data archive and, while CD writers were non-existent or prohibitively expensive, still used for data backup. Finally, they were still used for moving data from one machine to another.

The next jump in the storage evolution was the CD Writer with CD-R and CD-RW disks. Now CD-R could be used for archive and CD-RW for backup. The only task left for floppy was the transferring of files between PCs. When the Apple i-Mac appeared the floppy doomsayers were saying that the Internet would be used for floppy storage and data transfer. It hasn't really happened. The technology is not cheap enough and, for the home user, not quick enough. Actually, there was one other task the floppy could perform. It could be used as a boot disk or rescue disk to try and resurrect badly corrupted hard drives. In certain instances it could even contain whole operating systems. Remember the 'Incredible Floppy Demo'?

We are now at the present day. Some years ago the USB port become fairly standard on all PCs. It took a while but gradually many devices appeared that would plug into the USB port. It started with scanners, but soon we had printers, mice, TV cards, modems, etc. In fact, just about any device we can think of. The old serial port and parallel printer port are slowly dying. Because of the speed of USB, a new breed of device appeared, the mass storage device. Initially, these were external hard drives or zip backup drives, but more recently the flash memory device became available. This was read/write memory, like RAM, but retained its contents when removed from the PC. The size of the memory was small so the devices were small and portable. We now have a portable storage medium, just like the floppy, with one big advantage. The floppy could only store 1.4MB of data. Flash drives come in various sizes from 16MB up to 4GB currently. Not only that but the speed at which data is transferred from the flash drive into the PC can be up to 9MB/sec.

For quite some time I have been using floppies to transfer files from work to home. As more of these have come from the Internet they have become larger in size and I have often used disk spanning software to transfer files of up to 5MB. Bigger than that and it gets tedious. I have also been experimenting with Linux and have been looking for ways in which it can easily co-exist with Windows. I knew Knoppix could be made to run from a USB flash drive so I thought it was time to get one of these devices to play with.

The two PCs I work with are dinosaurs. My home PC is a Windows 98, First Edition, machine. While supporting USB, Windows 98 First Edition is a bit cranky and does not support all USB functionality. Windows 98SE supports USB fully, but needs a driver. Windows XP will usually run USB devices straight out of the box. My PC at work runs Windows NT - which does not support USB at all! How was a USB flash drive going to transfer files between these two machines? More of that later, but these restrictions guided me in my choice of device.

Because I was going to play around initially I did not want to spend too much money. I did a trawl of local high street shops to see what was on offer. Maplins, PC World and Staples were my intended sources. Maplins and PC World came out roughly equal and I reasoned that a 128MB device gave the best bangs per buck at £40. However, in PC World there was a lite device at £29. That was a big difference in price and I could not understand what the difference in capability was. I was undecided. I thought I would go on the Internet to get more information before making the final decision. In the meantime I realised that because my home PC had its USB port at the rear I would need a cable to bring it round to the front where I could easily plug the device in. None of the devices I saw seemed to come with cables so off to Maplins I went to get my cable in readiness. That was £5.

I went on the Internet and started googling for information on USB Flash drives. I found out what I wanted but more interesting were the related ads Google displayed. There were a number of companies offering flash drives, or pen drives as they are also known. I thought I would look at a few. Now, I have rules about buying from the Internet. I don't! I like to use the Internet to get information but I like to order by telephone. I am still not sure whether the chances of a hack of your credit card number is more likely via the Internet or by a corrupt employee at the end of a telephone, but I figure that a company with a telephone and address to write to is more likely to provide a good service than some fly-by-night who can create a nice looking web page but has no other means of contact.

I looked at a few possibilities but I was taken by the Flash drives provided by Orca Logic Limited. The JetFlash range of products came in various sizes, but what struck me was that they said they would work with Windows 98, First Edition, which was not true of any other product I saw. The other things that drove me to this company was that you could order by telephone and they gave guaranteed next day delivery all within the price - and what a price! The cost of the JetFlash 128Mb was £25.73 all in. This was significantly cheaper than anything on the high street and on the web could only be bettered by those pure Internet ordering places. I should mention that the price INCLUDED a USB extension cable, (so much for my cleverness in buying one to be prepared!), a neck strap for carrying the device and a disk that contains a Windows 98 driver and User Manual. As far as I could tell, none of the high street alternatives provided this. I also looked at some reviews of the device, (just google for JetFlash review), and they were favourable.

Then came the inevitable problem. I noticed there was a JetFlash2 and a JetFlash2A. They were both the same price. The specifications seemed almost identical - they both said they worked with Windows 98, First Edition. The only difference I could see was that the JetFlash2 came in 3 colours and the 2A was clearly a later addition to the range and had a slightly faster data transfer rate. I decided to check when I ordered.

It was time to ring up and order. I made the check on the differences between the JetFlash2 and 2A. Being told nothing more than I already surmised for myself I purchased the JetFlash2A, the later model, in 128MB size. I gave my details and was told it will be with me the next day.

And it was - at 7.00 a.m. the next day! Since the UK Royal Mail changed their delivery service to a single delivery a day all my mail has become second class, since I never get a delivery before going to work. Orca used the special next day delivery service and the delivery man, not my postman, was banging on my door before I had got out of bed.

Of course, there was not time before work to give the device a try so it was evening before I opened the packet. That was when I had a disappointment. The packaging clearly said the Windows 98 system required was Windows 98SE. Working with Windows 98, First Edition, was not an option. I muttered under my breath but decided that since I am planning to upgrade soon anyway and I have to do things differently with my PC at work, it was no great problem and I would not demand a different product. I did take a look at the web site given on the packaging though. Orca distribute the JetFlash in the UK for a company called Transcend. A look at their web site showed that the software and manuals for the devices was available for download. I downloaded the manual for the JetFlash 2 and it clearly showed it would work with Windows 98, First Edition. If this was important then this was the device to buy. I sent an e-mail to Orca that night pointing out the problem with their web site. By the next day I had an apologetic reply and the web page had been changed in line with my findings. A drop off by Orca, but at least they corrected the fault quickly.

It was now time to start playing with the device but how, if it would not work with my operating system? I forgot to mention. These USB devices work not only with Windows but also with Mac OS 8.6 or later and Linux kernel 2.4.2 or later. I did actually try to run the JetFlash2 software driver but that didn't work - not sure why. Now Knoppix comes with Linux kernel 2.4.26 or kernel 2.6.5 so it was time to test Knoppix in earnest. I had planned to use Knoppix on the NT machine at work anyway so it was no great problem to use it on my home machine as well.

I have Knoppix on my hard drive and boot to it from CD or boot floppy. So, before turning on my PC I plugged the JetFlash into the USB cable and put my Knoppix 2.4 kernel boot floppy into the floppy drive. I turned on and waited for the boot process to end. Will Knoppix recognise the JetFlash or will I have to tinker to get it to work?

I needn't have worried. Like everything else I have pushed at Knoppix it recognised the JetFlash. When the K desktop appeared there was a new device icon on it. Along with the icons for my CD-ROM drives, floppy disk and 3 hard disk partitions a new icon for sda1 had appeared. This is Linux speak for a SCSI device, which is how the USB drive is recognised. I followed the usual procedure to mount it , tell Linux that I wanted to write to it and clicked the icon to open the drive. A blank file manager window appeared. I then opened another window onto one of my hard drive partitions and copied 5MB of files across. 5 seconds later after my JetFlash winked at me with its red LED the files were copied. Everything looked OK but there was no guarantee until I had copied the files FROM the JetFlash back to the PC. I shutdown my PC and started from scratch. This time I copied the files back from the JetFlash onto a different hard drive partition. All seemed well. Finally, I rebooted into Windows and checked the files were there and they still loaded into the appropriate application. Yes, all was well.

The final test was to disconnect the flash drive, take it to work and see how it fares on the NT machine. No difference. Using Knoppix 2.6 kernel this time all was exactly the same, except the files were copied in an instant. I guess the PCs at work run USB2! I copied files from the NT machine onto the flash drive, took them home and loaded them onto my home PC.

All tests for transferring files worked successfully. My having Windows 98 and buying the wrong version of the JetFlash made things a little more difficult for me but those of you with Windows XP will find it is just plug and go. Quite clearly this device can take over from the floppy for transferring files.

I also mentioned that floppies can be used as boot disks and rescue disks. Can the USB Flash drive take this role? The key to this problem is whether your PC will boot from a USB device. Ever since day one the BIOS in the IBM compatible PC has been set to boot from the floppy drive. When the hard drive came along then the sequence was from floppy, then hard drive. When CD-ROMs came along some BIOS chips allowed booting from CD-ROM as well. This is how the Knoppix Live-CD works in its simplest form. With the advent of USB devices some BIOS chips will now boot from USB zip devices and USB hard drive devices. The difference is in the formatting of the USB device. If your computer has such a BIOS then it should be possible to get a JetFlash that will boot. Curiously the JetFlash2A manual says it will support boot up for Windows 98, ME and 2000 but NOT XP. The JetFlash2 supports boot up in Windows XP. I have a feeling that they all support boot up in Linux but you will have to set things up yourself. I ran a check with QTParted under Knoppix and the JetFlash2A seems to be partitioned as a FAT16 file system. A bit old fashioned and maybe this has something to do with what it will and will not boot up with. I wonder if it is possible to reformat it to ones own desire and also how the bigger capacity flash drives are formatted. FAT16 does not support large partition sizes so how the 4GB device is set up is an intriguing question.

Other features in the JetFlash are the ability to write protect the contents with a sliding switch and to create a password protected partition for data.

It should be fairly obvious by now that these devices have all the functionality that the floppy had. In addition, the increased capacity and smaller size makes them much more flexible and portable. I think I can say the floppy is now on its last legs.

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