While the great spread of CD-RW drives is slowly making the problem of moving data between computers fade, it is sometimes not easy and cumbersome. A lot of computers still do not have CD-RW drives and the process of transporting data on CD-R disk is one way only. Optical and ZIP drives that are still very popular in the printing industry are also not up to the par – they are oversized, slow, troublesome, and usually require drivers to be installed on the host computer.

    More or less elegant solution to the problem is the so-called flash disks. They use USB interface for the connection, are very fast, lightweight, and most importantly require minimal software support. They also look cool – like some sort of high-tech gadget out of the future. One example of such disk is the Pen Drive. It sure does look like a small pen – if you want to use it you have to remove the cap off of it before plugging it into the USB port. Inside, the Pen Drive is nothing less than a flash – solid state – memory storage.

    All you have to do to use it is stick it into the USB port - the power of Plug and Pray at work. After it is connected, the Pen Drive can be accessed just like any other hard drive. Windows ME/2000/XP and Mac OS > 8 do not even require any drivers to be installed in order for the Pen Drive to work. This looks extremely cool on computers where USB ports are moved to the front of the case or onto the keyboard: plug it in, write stuff to it, take it out and leave. The capacity of the Pen Drive ranges from 16 megabytes to a hefty 1 gigabyte. 64 megabyte version will set you back around 40 bucks. Obviously you won’t be able to copy off latest Microsoft Office XP onto that baby, but two or three MP3 albums should fit just fine.

    Oh yeah, Pen Drive is round and shiny. That’s always a plus, right?