Web User - UK (2019-06-12)

RunAnythingFromA

USBSTICK

40 12 - 25 June 2019

USB sticks are the perfect devices for stor ing and

running brilliant free , po rtable software. Nik Rawlinson

explains how you can take your favourite programs and

whole operating systems with you, wherever you go

M

emoryhas never beencheaper

and that’s especiallytrueofUSB

sticks, whosepricesare falling

almostasquicklyascapacities are

increasing.You canpick upa 64GBUSB

3 SanDiskUltra stick for just£13 on

Amazon (bit.ly/sandisk477), ora 32GB

USB 2Toshiba stick for less thana fiver

(bit.ly/toshiba 477 ).

These pocketabledevices candofar

morethanjust ferry your filesaround.

Overthe nextsix pages, weexplore the

best standalonetoolsthatrun froma

USB flash drive.Theydon’t leaveclutter

intheirwake, soyou canuse themona

friend’s PC, ona computerina hotel

lobby and even atwork, without

needingspecial access orknowhow.

However, it’s not justportable

programsthatwe’re interestedin: to

kickoff, we’ll be showingyou howto

bootWindows, Linux and the

Chromiumoperatingsystem froma USB

memorystick. Why?Because booting

fromanexternaldrive canhelp

diagnoseproblems, and letsyou testan

alternativeoperatingsystemwithout

interfering withyourexistingsetup.It’s

all awhole lot easier thanyou might

expect.

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