PC on a Thumb Drive!

[dogoftheunderworld]

Saw this on Yahoo! news. A Virtual PC that you can load onto flash/micro harddrive (Ipod, thumb drive, portable USB HD, etc). Just plug into a WinXP usb port and it creates your own personalized virtual desktop using the host PCs periphrials.

This looks very cool I have the free download, but haven't tried it quite yet. The site is already slowing down, so they must be getting hammered.

News report:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060926/ap_on_hi_te/demo_pc_on_a_stick_4

Software website:
www.mojopac.com

Peace,

Brian
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[XCorvis]

That's neat, but just a word of warning: flash drives have a limited number of writes they can perform before they die. If you run applications like that off a flash drive, you're going to reduce the lifespan of the drive significantly. But flash drives are cheap, and that sounds really cool.

 

[JohnnFour]

flash drives have a limited number of writes they can perform before they die.

I haven't heard this before. Thanks for the warning. Are you aware of any documentation about this issue?

 

[MythosaAkira]

I haven't heard this before. Thanks for the warning. Are you aware of any documentation about this issue?

I don't have any definitive sources, but I've read about this as well. It's mentioned in the Wikipedia article on USB drives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb_drive), so that may be a place to start.

From what I've read, for the most part this isn't going to be a problem for most people who use USB drives. I don't believe just reading a file is a problem either; it's the writing. But if you're essentially running an OS off your USB drive, I could see it becoming an issue sooner than later.

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

That's neat, but just a word of warning: flash drives have a limited number of writes they can perform before they die. If you run applications like that off a flash drive, you're going to reduce the lifespan of the drive significantly. But flash drives are cheap, and that sounds really cool.

Thanks for the heads up! Most Flash drives don't have the memory to make this application killer, but micro hard drives could make it interesting.

I did manage to install this on my 1 gig Cruzer, and it seemed to work as advertised. I did not try and load applications or any heavy testing, but it is a pretty slick concept.

 

[reanjr]

Now that most PCs nowadays supports booting off of USB drive, you can just install an OS to the USB drive in the first place. DSL (Damn Small Linux) is good for smaller drives. Otherwise you can use the Debian mini distro or various other things.

 

[XCorvis]

I haven't heard this before. Thanks for the warning. Are you aware of any documentation about this issue?

I can't recall where I heard it first, but there's a note about it in the Flash Memory article on Wikipedia. I can't locate a more detailed source right now, but that's a start.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory#Limitations

 

[werk]

3com had this very same idea maybe 9 years ago. You port around your hard drive and personal stuff, and it talks to any host PC or client system that you wan tto use. It connected wirelessly, either 802.11 or bluetooth.

Genius, really, but the infrastructure isn't there. $60 wireless drives vs. $1000 PCs...guess which way the industry is leaning?