By Bruce A. Love
I routinely use three computers in three different locations. When I work from home, I need files that were created on my PC at the office. When I am out of town, I make sure I have important files with me that normally reside on my other computers. For anyone who works at multiple locations on multiple computers, choosing the right tools for file portability is critical.
In recent years, there have been many types of removable storage media: floppy disks, Zip disks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and USB flash drives (sometimes called a thumbdrives). In the past decade, storage capacities of removable media have increased dramatically. Only 10 years ago, most of us relied on the floppy diskette, which held just 1.44 MB of data. Today, it is not unusual to find flash drives with 4GB capacities (3,000 times the capacity of the floppy diskette!) A portable hard drive is another option that has even more storage capacity. It is clear that the saying “you can’t take it with you” does not apply to the content on your PC’s hard drive! There’s virtually no excuse for not having every important file with you at all times!
Before leaving on a business trip this week, I made sure I saved every file I could possible need to my 1GB flash drive. Unfortunately, all portable storage devices have a major flaw – you have to remember to take them with you when you leave town! Mine is still securely plugged into my PC at home (assuming Chloe, our Jack Russell, hasn’t discovered that they make excellent chew toys). Fortunately, I can use another mobile computing trick to access my files!
Last weekend, I installed a program on my home PC that allows me to access anything in, or connected to, my home computer! LogMeIn Pro allows users to see a remote PC's full desktop and control everything on it - applications, network files, email, and printing. You can even copy files to a local PC that are too large for email. With LogMeIn, I can access my PC from work, an internet cafe, an airport, or a hotel business center. I can even print documents that I access remotely to a printer at home or one located with me! You may use LogMeIn Pro free for 30 days. If you decide this product is right for you, it’s about $70 per year. A free version of the program allows you to view and control your computer remotely but will not let you drag and drop files from your remote PC to your local computer nor print such documents to a local printer. However, one way to use the free version to move files from a remote PC to a local PC is to make your remote PC e-mail the files to you. That’s not ideal, but it is free!
Now that I can operate my home computer remotely I will be able to monitor Chloe on the web cam and make sure she doesn’t get close to my flash drive. If she does, I can crank up the speakers at home from hundreds of miles away and yell “No Chloe!” I wonder if the little rat will listen.
Love Lines
Love Lines is a blog for business and technology discussion.
Many of the entries are columns written by
Bruce or Kären Love.
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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on April 26, 2008 9:29 AM.
The previous post in this blog was April Fools, Frauds, Hoaxes and Scams.
The next post in this blog is Brown bag lunches can build skills and teams.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
Love Lines is a blog for business and technology discussion.
Many of the entries are columns written by
Bruce or Kären Love.
Click on
"Comments" or any title below to post
comments on any entry.
« April Fools, Frauds, Hoaxes and Scams | Main | Brown bag lunches can build skills and teams »
Portable Data Options
Search
About
This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on April 26, 2008 9:29 AM.
The previous post in this blog was April Fools, Frauds, Hoaxes and Scams.
The next post in this blog is Brown bag lunches can build skills and teams.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
