How to Use USB Flash Drive in Vista

A USB Flash drive is essentially a portable hard drive. It connects to your USB port and can store information just like a hard disk can. The advantage to the flash drive over a normal hard drive is that it can be moved from computer to computer through the USB port. In Windows Vista, the USB drive can even act as a sort of RAM using Windows ReadyBoost. There are certain criteria that must be met for this to work efficiently.

Instructions

1. Connect the USB flash drive to a USB port. Some USB flash drives will have the drivers installed locally on the USB device itself. Windows will have the drivers installed. In either case--when the USB device is added--the drivers will automatically run to set up your new device. This is a onetime run. It will not have to be done again after the initial install.

2. Walk through the driver installation process. The driver installation process may be fully automated, but--depending on the USB manufacturer--there may be some self explanatory prompts that need a user's attention. Typically, a Windows authorization window will appear, asking for permission to run the driver's program. Click "Okay" if you accept. The only other prompt that should appear, if any, is a prompt asking if you wish to reboot the computer now. Simply select yes or no. If you don't reboot the computer at this prompt, the flash drive will not be usable.

3. Log off or restart the computer.

4. Transfer wanted files to the USB flash drive. This can be music, video, documents, or whatever you want, as long as it does not exceed the drive size. Once the information is on the flash drive, you can remove the flash drive and take it to another computer.

5. Disable the hardware device. Once the information is on the flash drive, you can remove the flash drive and take it to another computer. Before you do this, be sure to go down to your task bar in the lower right hand corner. Place your mouse pointer over the icons. Find the one that says "Safely Remove Hardware." Choose this and disable the flash drive before removing it. This is to help ensure you do not lose any data you have stored on the flash drive.

6. Connect the USB device to any USB 2.0 port, and you can transfer the files from the Flash drive to the computer. If you wish, you can just use the Flash drive to store secure information.

Tips & Warnings

• You can use Windows Vista's ReadyBoost to use the USB Flash drive as RAM. Be sure to read the help in Windows Vista to find the limitations of ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost will also be available in Windows 7 with fewer limitations.

Resources

• Click here to learn how to use ReadyBoost