Does anybody have one (Or more) of these? Do they work as well as they would seem to? And lastly...do you need to install some kind of software to make them work? Seems like a good way to store/backup information (instead of CD's). What do you think :confused: ???

I have a couple. They work very well, and assuming you are using Windows XP or Mac OS X (or most modern Linux distros) you will not need any special software. Many drives come pre-loaded with backup or other utility software but you don't need to use it if you don't want.

They work well for me (Windows XP). Just shove 'em in and you got another drive.

Thumb drives, but I still make my fingers do the walking.

;)

I have 2 which I love (One 4GB one and a 512MB one which is very small and fits on my keyring).

I've also given all my staff one as they are extremly handy for moving files around for various reasons (I work in IT).

For the every day user I can honestly say they are exremly handy. The update of pen drives by students has been amazing with probably 30% of the student poulation having one. They have got so cheap now and compared to other versions of forms of portiable media are so reliable that they really are a must have.

Are they a reliable method to backup files?

Are they a reliable method to backup files?
I know mine got 'corrupted' at one point when I was using it a lot - I didn't lose anything only because I was using it to transfer files, and not store my only copy, though. Not sure how common it is or if I'm just 'lucky'

I wouldn't use it as a "backup" per se, except as a convenient way to move files from one machine to another. The backup is on the other machine. I wouldn't leave my only copy of important files on a thumb drive.

Are they a reliable method to backup files?

I would never have my "only" copy on one but then again I would never have just one copy anyway.

Our experiance seems to be they are more reliable than floppy disks, as reliable as CD-RWs and less reliable than CD-Rs.