I’m no technological genius. Although I’ve been exposed to all kinds of cutting edge technology, my camera is still the one that uses a 3½ inch floppy disk, rather than any kind of memory card. Granted, I understand that there are newer, fancier models, and we have big plans of getting one of those that can take more than four pictures per memory storage unit. The camera is just one example of my tendency to stick with the old styles of technology (and clothing, but that’s another story for another blog).
For years, I’d used the 3½ inch floppy disks to transfer any and all files, since I missed the era of the big ol’ really-floppy floppy disks. Not too many years ago, I learned about using compact discs for data transfer, although it was much more recently that I actually had access to a computer with a CD writer. With that major step in technological advancement, I graduated from floppy disks to compact discs for any and all file transfers. What larks! We could handle all kinds of data, as long as we started on a computer that had a CD writer and moved to a computer that had a CD drive (not always the case…).
Imagine my delight when first I was introduced to the flash drive. With the USB port now being standard on pretty much all the machines I ever see, the only usability concern is being able to get to a USB port. On some of the older computers, there are only a few USB ports, and they are sometimes in use for the keyboard, the mouse, and other accessories. One of my favorite improvements to the majority of desktop PCs is putting a couple or a few USB ports on the front of the computer tower. Although many people still have that part of the machine on the floor (which can make for some rather un-ladylike acrobatics), it’s still better than having to crawl behind or drag out the computer to get to the ports on the back. Ah! the joys of living in this day and age!
Nowadays, our household flash drive gets plenty of use, and we’re considering getting them for our parents. Since the birth of our daughter, we do a whole lot of sending pictures, and at month end, we give each set of grandparents a compact disc of all of the pictures we took of their granddaughter during the just-ended month. It seems as though it would be a lot cheaper, and a lot easier to just get them flash drives on which to add the new pictures. Cool thing is, now that I’ve discovered CFgear, we might even be able to figure out a customized flash drive and get them for aunts and uncles (biological and adopted, that is), too!
With my limited understanding of computer technology, outside the applications I use on a regular basis or can figure out because of similarities, I’m especially thankful that whoever figured out the flash drive concept decided to make them pretty user friendly. If I can use them, I’m guessing that pretty much anyone can!