I was wondering what brand of flash drive is good. i need it for one of my classes that uses MACs. It has to be 256MB. also, if i use it on a mac, will i be able to use it on a regular pc? i am going to be using these programs adobe photoshop, adobe illustrator, InDesign, and QuarkXPress. thanks for your help

Matt

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it should. Files are files, no matter what OS they're created on. If they're created with photoshop, they can be opened with photoshop... no matter what OS photoshop is on. I know this is true in some (if not all) cases because I've seen a PowerPoint presentation created on a Mac open on a Windows machine.

As for the flash drive, I'd go with SanDisk. Try www.newegg.com or www.buy.com and see what you can find. I have a SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 512mb thumb drive (the USB connector slides in and out), with the thumb drive part being a pretty cool feature. It glows blue when in the port and flashes when being read or written to. I love it and couldn't do without it now.

The only thing I can see being a problem is the way the drive is formatted. I'm sure Mac uses a different format than Windows, so that might be an issue.

 

As long as you format it in FAT (the default file system for PC's usually) it should be fine, because I think Mac's can read FAT. SHOULD be fine...

 

i have had both Lexar jump Drive Pro, (256) and i just got a Sandisk Cruizer Mini (512) both work on PC and Mac. they are the best things since sliced bread, especially if you are in college.

 

I must also recommend the Sandisk. I have one and its just sleek, sexy, and nice.

 

Format it on the PC first! I'm a Mac guy myself, and I use these at school. If you leave with the Mac (HFS+?) filesystem, the PC won't read it.

 

Awesome! Thanks a lot guys. I ended up getting the sandisk cruzer from newegg. 4 dollar shipping. not too bad


matt

 

Actually, they come formatted with the FAT (File Allocation Table) file format. DO NOT reformat the thing. If you format it for NTFS (a much better file system) it will be useless the minute you remove it from the machine.

I own 4 of these type drives. All of them came preformatted and ready to use. Just stick it in the USB port and the computer should "see" it right away. When you want to remove it from the computer it is a good idea to click on the little icon in your system tray (by the clock on the bottom right) that appeared when you put it in the USB port and "stop" the device. That helps make sure that any files that are open on the USB device are saved and closed prior to removal.

-Sherpa