Not Your Usual Scuttlebutt Topic

[BobH]

It's Not Your Usual Scuttlebutt Topic but I couldn't decide on a more fitting place for it.

It seems that USB flash drives have proliferated - I think they breed when the lights are off - to the point that I can no longer look at one and know what is on it. This has been exacerbated by my penchant for buying multiples to get lower unit prices; ergo I have many that look identical but, of course, have different contents; and I have some that look nothing alike.

I'm trying to decide the best way to mark them so that I can know when I pick one up what it contains. I'm not looking to have index labels on thumb-sized devices, but I would very much like to be able to know that I'm pulling the correct one out of a hub when I need to. Drive letters and minimally descriptive device names (size factor for example with incrementing digits appended) allow me to see them in File Explorer, of course. When plugged into a hub strip with half a dozen or more others, I can't tell one from the other.

I'm thinking about snipping some stick-on labels down to about a 1/2" by 1" (13mmx254mm - for the rest of the world - I think). I would only use the 'minimally descriptive device names (not drive letters) on those labels.

Before setting sail on that course, I thought I'd troll here to see if I could find better ideas. (and with that I'm lost for more maritime metaphors)

[StuartR]

I use a Dymo label printer for this

[GeoffW]

With that many devices, are you using the appropriate medium? Would you be better using a large single removable device for all files, and using a service such as Dropbox for files you require across devices?

[HansV]

I agree with Geoff. I have several USB sticks in my desk drawer, but I hardly never use them any more.
I have a large USB drive for backup purposes, and I store files that I want to be available on all my devices on Dropbox.

[ChrisGreaves]

I'm trying to decide the best way to mark them so that I can know when I pick one up what it contains.

20200904_080758.jpg

First thing, pack a suitcase and head up here to borrow one of my Sharpies™.
While you are sitting in the train, or waiting to change trains at Chicago, Buffalo, Toronto, Quebec City or North Sydney (there is a ferry trip of 6 hours but sadly, no train waiting at the other end in Port aux Basque) dream up some names from your favorite Gilbert and Sullivan opera, online technical forum or, if you are stumped, nicknames for me (Grumpy, Cranky etc).

Mark the thumb drives with those names.

You could, of course, name the thumb drives with their colours ("Orange", "Blue", "Silver" etc) but that would defeat the purpose... , sort of.

In essence: Recognize that the content is different from the container, and that no matter how you identify the thumb drive externally, that identifier will always differ from the contents, and the contents will change from one time to another.

I used always to use my "blue" thumb drive as a portable device when heading off to the library; Blue was used to ferry PDF files from the laptop to the library computer so that I could print a hard copy.
Then I left Blue behind in a coffee shop, so Silver became my trusty PDF steed. I don't know where I left Silver.

I have found that giving the drives decimal number identifiers does not provide the flair necessary to retain a clear distinction in long-term (such as it is nowadays) memory. For example "Is it number one this time, or number two?" is almost as bad as "Which one", and doesn't help much.

One thing I do do is label the volume with my phone number (DOS CMD "Label"), my theory being that if someone finds one of my thumb drives, they might phone me and demand a ransom. Hasn't happened yet. Maybe everyone here already has enough money.

I have to head out dog/cat sitting today, so when I get to Tom's place I'll have time to trim down this response and make it easier to read less prolix.

Cheers
Chris

[DaveA]

I agree with Geoffw and Hans, more than two thumb drives in use at one time is a BIG no no in by book.

I have one in my pocket, it contains many "Tools" I may want we away from my desktop computer.
I have a few laying around on my desktop to use when Windows Network is not doing what I want. In the old days it was called "Sneaker Net".

If you are needing many of these in use at the same time, you need to look at getting a Good sized USD DRIVE, 1-4 TB.
I have a very small USB drive 2 TB that I carry with my laptop, and on it include an image to rebuild the C drive if needed on the road.

These thumb drives are one step better as a place to be saving files than the "Desktop" of Windows.

[Ted Myers]

I was surprised to find your topic was not the one I was thinking about.

Spoiler

Ted.jpeg

[LisaGreen]

A lot of "Sticks" have a loop at one end. If there is one you could attach a bit of coloured string or even one of those keyring thingies that you can put a lable in.

Lisa

[stuck]

I too have a few USB sticks lying around but they rarely get any use these days. Once upon a time they were a handy way of taking images from home to work (where the pictures could be printed on an A3 colour laser and then used to decorate the office walls) but that stopped many years ago when our IT people closed off all USB devices on all office IT hardware.

I do use an external card reader to mount the SD / CF cards from our cameras so the images can be copied to the desktop PC but of course once the images have been copied, the cards immediately go back to the camera, they are not left lying around.

My data is on a large internal drive that is backed up to an external drive. To share stuff with others I tend to use Google Drive.

Ken

[LisaGreen]

I find I have to b e careful dropbox/googkle drive doesn't get filled up too quickly with rubbish. I have to clean it regularly! More housekeeping duties!!!

Lisa

[HansV]

My Google Drive is 19 GB, my OneDrive is 15 GB and my Dropbox is a mere 2.25 GB. That's plenty of space!

[Graeme]

One of my Lunar images was created from a mosaic of the stacked frames from 14 video .ser files which adds up to a little over 25Gb. I use a 1Tb portable hard drive that's full of stuff I'll probably never look at again!

Regards

Graeme