10 important uses of USB Drives

Create a recovery kit

There are bright chances that your system might get corrupted due to malicious software from the Internet or other devices. So, it is good to have tools handy that you can run from a flash drive.

Lock and unlock your computer

You use a thumb drive as a key to lock and unlock the computer when plugged in and out. If anyone tries to access the system, it will deny the permission with access denied message.

Pack it with Linux

You might've heard about Linux at least once in your lifetime. With the help of USB drive, you can boot Linux and sneak around the OS without overwriting your current system.

Protect your information

If you are storing important/sensitive documents, you can encrypt it so that nobody else can access it. This flash drive hack can be completed using Windows on board tools or by installing a free app like TrueCrypt.

Use it as a RAM

In case, if your PC is running slow, you can boost it by caching some of your data over to your USB so that it can manage your applications better, resulting in better performance.

Run portable apps

This is one of the most compact devices that can carry various stuff ranging from games to software. You can also run applications like Firefox, Chrome, OpenOffice, and games with your USB flash drive on any computer.

Partition your disk

Install 'Parted Magic' to a flash drive, that helps you to create re-partition your computer hard drive easily. While the entire process is risky, but booting it from flash drive makes this much easier.

Run Anti-virus

If you have an infected PC that you cannot access, you sometimes need to run the Anti-Virus through USB drives. Many antiviruses offer USB or CD recovery tools, so download the USB or CD recovery image, and use it to create a bootable USB flash drive that you can use it on your computer.

Sync your files

If you have any important files on your computer, you can use various tools such as SyncToy 2.1 or SyncBackSE to automatically sync your files and copy them to USB.

External storage for smartphone and tablet

If you have lots of USB drives, you can use it as an external storage for your Android device with the help of OTG cable. However, some devices don't have USB OTG drivers and required apps to lets you mount external drives.