Its not uncommon to see USB drives everywhere. Actually today USB drives are like the erstwhile floppies of yesterday. However besides just being ordinary data storage devices, USB’s can be expanded to include not only utilities, software and programs BUT ENTIRE OPERATING SYSTEMS !

I wrote this article owing to the difficulty I face when I go out travelling and when i have no option but to use completely infamiliar and irritating computers which do not have the programs I need.

The Aim : Using a 1 GB hard-disk, making it a complete repository of software and tools that I am most likely going to need and require

Firstly, I ran a test using different file systems. What i found out was that fat(default) provided 983 MB free space (as compared to 979 MB with fat32, and 951 MB with NTFS note: please note free space, not total space available, formated on Vista Basic)

My first and foremost concern was music. Vlc (9.3 MB) and Audacity (2.4 MB) were two pretty decent programs that i would suggest.

As an alternative, if you own an Ipod, you would need software to manage an Ipod that fits on a USB Stick. In that case take YamIpod (4.4 MB)

Powerful iPod manager (copy mp3/AAC files to and from your iPod, import/export playlists, search for songs, remove duplicates…)  Other features include a built-in music player, lyrics support, iPod information display (owner, serial used space etc.), adding and editing of notes and more.

Browsing the net would be incomplete without a great browser, and firefox (5.8 MB) would definitely be my browser of choice. Inspite of its small size, it allows you to take your favorite bookmarks everywhere, and even features a pop up blocker ! Whats more impressive is that it doesnt leave any personal files behind !

And by chance, if a torrent crosses your path, it would be better to be prepared with utorrent. At a handy 214 kb i doubt if it would hurt

For those who use email clients, Mozilla Thunderbird (6 mb) would be no new name. But for the space conscious I have Quick Mailer (20 kb).

“” This is a tiny program for sending quick e-mail messages without having to load your main email client program. It features MIME attachment support, multiple authentication methods, SMTP logging and more “”

Gaim and Miranda IM together are multi-purpose messenger clients. Gaim (6.9 MB) supports AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! whereas Miranda (1.2 MB) supports ICQ, AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo! and IRC.

By far the largest, and most important piece of software would be OpenOffice. Being 65 MB for windows (and 127 MB for a MAC) it is an open source alternative to Microsoft Office yet being fully compatible

For the space conscious, AbiWord (6.3 MB) is an ordinary word processor.

PDF files can be viewed using Sumatra (1.1 mb) and Foxit PDF Reader (1.8 mb)

Convert [155 kb] is fast metric unit conversion tool. (distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass…) Handy and small and only appreciated when needed

Since you are using an USB it would only make sense if you had a file archiver and compressor. 7Zip (1.1 MB) supports 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, and RAR.

Finally, Sudoku (.4 MB) and NagaSkaki (2.3 MB - free, fully functional chess program) can also be thrown in just in case you feel bored.

There thats it. That pretty much made up my power USB. I think it can handle pretty much every task required and thrown at it.

The overall size of programs turned out to be only 150 MB. The rest I used to store my songs and other important data.

If your USB does contain important data, you could consider TrueCrypt, a file encryption program. Apparently it

“Provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password “

which i found very amusing …

On a closing note, there was enough space left over to add a complete operating system. Im sure many would be aware of running Linux off a USB (distro - Damn Small Linux — recommended 512mb space) but I found out that its possible to even run WIndows XP off a USB !

To run Windows XP off a flash disk go here. After completing this tutorial, your Windows XP install should directly boot off your USB-drive, and be fully upgradable, DirectX games will run, all apps should work like normal. Though i can give no guarantees

OH OH i almost forgot, in case you are in a snoopy mood, check out this spy software. It isnt free and I take no responsibility at all !

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