General Discussion

I keep reading conflicting information about installing and using the Java Runtime (JRE) on a USB drive. Some posts say that it can't be done, as Sun's Java installs all sorts of registry entries, yet other posts talk about using java based programs on their USB drive with the JRE right along aside (e.g. also on the USB drive).

Is it possible to install the JRE on a USB drive so that Java apps on the USB drive can run without Java being installed on the host computer? If so, could someone point me to the install/setup instructions? Thank you very much.

I've downloaded a few things from portableapps so I thought I'd share this little gem with everyone here. Currently, http://www.daz3d.com/program/bryce/bryce5free.php is giving away their 3d animation program, Bryce 5, until September 13th. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it's portable right from the start! There's a small registration process, but it was painless!
TJ

Has anyone found a program that will encrypt/decrypt a USB disk that does not require admin privileges? TrueCrypt looks like a great program but I really need to be able to use my USB flash drive from public machines where I can be guaranteed of NOT having admin permissions. I don't want to carry around my drive without it being encrypted as I am sure I will lose it at some point. Has anyone come up with any workarounds, whether they be for TrueCrypt or another encryption program? Thanks.

- Derek

Does anyone have any experience with any of the biometric (i.g. fingerprint scan) USB flash drives such as the "San Disk Cruzer Profile" and "Lexar JumpDrive TouchGaurd"? How well do they prevent access to the drive if a user is not authenticated? Is the U3 "Logon" security reliable or can it be bypassed without much effort? I would like to carry my USB flash drive around on my key chain knowing that if it is lost or stolen that my information will be secure from most everybody, save the NSA or FBI (I assume they could crack most anything).

I know others have mentioned using TrueCrypt to encrypt volumes on the flash drive, but does TrueCrypt, having to have "admin rights", cause any problems when using machines where admin access is not possible (e.g. library terminals, internet cafes, etc...).

Since the lifetime of the NAND flash memory is quoted as between 10K and 100K write cycles, and I see the little LED flashing even when I'm not aware of doing anything to cause thumb drive access, the question naturally arises:

How long are these drives expected to last before the first bits start failing?

I know that I'm supposed to do backups regardless of the storage medium, but this is my first time out with a flash drive so I'm rather curious.

Also,

In a modern flash drive, does the flash memory controller remap storage addresses to equalize the write activity across the drive?

http://www.uk-easy-hosting.com/adimg/pf.php?fid=86

I just got it the other day for wining in some design competiton on a forum bc I do graphic designing and stuff I think it one of the smallest usb flash cards I've ever seen pretty sweet 1 GB nice

...where data traces means "stuff left behind in buffers, the paging file, on disk or anywhere except your thumb drive or other removable media."

I have a TrueCrypted 2gb thumb drive with the PortableApps suite installed. I find myself automatically using Windows Notepad to edit stuff I like to think of as secured on my thumb drive. I have no idea what (if any) mechanisms Notepad has to avoid leaving data traces on the host system, wherever that may be, so I googled and found Steganos LockNote.

LockNote looks pretty good, it comes from a SourceForge project and so I'm assuming that it's fully Open Source which is a must for security software in my opinion.

This is great — Toshiba plans to bring out a limited edition 16GB USB dongle. What would you do with 16GB in your pocket? Who knows? As the writer of this story says, "It may be one of the occasional cases of: who cares? It's a 16GB USB drive that fits in your pocket and weighs 12 grams!

http://www.techworld.com/storage/new...fm?newsID=6755

I'm a newbie regarding to PortableApps.

On this site you provide the "Portable Apps Suite". I would like to know whether one can select the applications one wants to have installed or does one need to install all the applications provided in the suite ?

Does anyone know if the Venrilo versions 2.1.4 and 2.3.0 can work as portables, i haven´t been able to try it out myself cuz i don´t have a portable usb yet, have orderd one.

The thing i know about these .exe files is that you don´t have to install then, if you have winrar you can easily extract them from the .exe file.

If anyone have tried this or can try for me it would be sweet so i know it works.

Thanks!