Where have all the cheap USB thumb drives gone?

wrote:
On Mon, 03 Dec 2018 14:02:19 +1100, Peter Jason wrote:

On Mon, 3 Dec 2018 01:57:02 +0000, ? Good Guy ?
wrote:

On 03/12/2018 01:15, Peter Jason wrote:
It seems impossible to buy anything under 4GB
these days.
Some of us like to send off photos to relatives on
these drives and the large papacy is redundant.
I need CHEAPER ones of about 1GB or less, just for
posting off photos.
Open a "Free Tier" Account with AWS for S3 drives and you can upload
your photos on it and your relatives can download them if you give them
a link and access code. The drive can be made private (it is private by
default) and you can generate a link to send it to your loved ones.

Sending a flash drive is not save and it can get lost in the post. We
have modern technology for such mishaps. Postal system is outdated.
Even Christmas cards have become eCards. Saves money and good for
environment. No need for postal vans polluting our air when delivering
your photos.
I don't care about the environment!
Nor do I give a stuff for all the cute furry
bug-eyed critters that drive up prices everywhere!
I know what I want and so do all my recipients,
all of the quality Old School.
If I can FEEL things then I know they exist!

Then print them and mail them...

There's always microfilm.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...ennium/565643/

"... 100 pages on one four-by-six-inch sheet of film in a grid pattern.
Because microfiche was introduced... "

"Kodak introduced polyester-based microfilm, which promised
to resist decay for at least 500 years"

That could lay flat enough in an envelope, you
wouldn't have to pay excess post on it.

The customer would then stick that in their
film scanner with the 4"x6" tray. For conversion
back to 1's and 0's.

Paul

On Mon, 03 Dec 2018 12:15:20 +1100, Peter Jason wrote:

It seems impossible to buy anything under 4GB
these days.
Some of us like to send off photos to relatives on
these drives and the large papacy is redundant.
I need CHEAPER ones of about 1GB or less, just for
posting off photos.

Low capacity drives are no cheaper. Old thumb drives may have lower
capacity. Try a junk shop who have of scrap PCs

Steve

--
http://www.npsnn.com

On Mon, 03 Dec 2018 14:08:12 +1100, Peter Jason wrote:

On Sun, 02 Dec 2018 19:43:25 -0600, Paul in
Houston TX wrote:

Peter Jason wrote:
It seems impossible to buy anything under 4GB
these days.
Some of us like to send off photos to relatives on
these drives and the large papacy is redundant.
I need CHEAPER ones of about 1GB or less, just for
posting off photos.

They have gone to Ebay.
512k and up.
1 MB / $0.74 USD.
Free shipping on the slow boat from China. About 4 weeks.

I've had no luck with evilBay. I had to pay $5.00
ea for 10 x 4GB drives.



I'm not interested in buying such drives, but out of curiosity, I just
checked on Amazon.com. 4GB drives are available in packs of ten
starting at $20. That's $2 each.

On 2018-12-03, Paul wrote:
There's always microfilm.

Cheapest would probably be to burn the files onto CD or DVD, assuming that
the recipient has an optical drive available.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger Blake (Posts from Google Groups killfiled due to excess spam.)

NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
Don't talk to cops! -- http://www.DontTalkToCops.com
Badges don't grant extra rights -- http://www.CopBlock.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In article , Roger Blake
wrote:

There's always microfilm.

Cheapest would probably be to burn the files onto CD or DVD, assuming that
the recipient has an optical drive available.

cheapest is upload to a photo sharing site and send a link. it's also
the most convenient, since it only needs to be done once, for everyone,
and nothing needs to be mailed.

On 12/3/18 12:36 AM, Monty wrote:
On Mon, 03 Dec 2018 12:15:20 +1100, Peter Jason wrote:

It seems impossible to buy anything under 4GB
these days.
Some of us like to send off photos to relatives on
these drives and the large papacy is redundant.
I need CHEAPER ones of about 1GB or less, just for
posting off photos.

Log into ebay and search for 1gb flash drive bulk

There are many available from China at about $1 with free shipping.

I found those, and also 8MB for that price (if you buy 10).

--
22 days until the winter celebration (Tue Dec 25, 2018 12:00:00 AM for 1
day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"It was the schoolboy who said, 'Faith is believing what you know ain't
so.'." -- Mark Twain, Following the Equator

On 2018-12-02 8:15 p.m., Peter Jason wrote:
It seems impossible to buy anything under 4GB
these days.
Some of us like to send off photos to relatives on
these drives and the large papacy is redundant.
I need CHEAPER ones of about 1GB or less, just for
posting off photos.

And 4GB are less than $5, no?


--
SilverSlimer
Minds: @silverslimer

"Peter Jason" wrote

| I need CHEAPER ones of about 1GB or less, just for
| posting off photos.

Why not DVDs or CDs? I just bought 100 DVDs
for about 18 cents each. I use them for backup
and video. I've also used them to send things to
friends. The PO even has special mailers for them.

On 2018-12-03 12:28 p.m., Mayayana wrote:
"Peter Jason" wrote

| I need CHEAPER ones of about 1GB or less, just for
| posting off photos.

Why not DVDs or CDs? I just bought 100 DVDs
for about 18 cents each. I use them for backup
and video. I've also used them to send things to
friends. The PO even has special mailers for them.

The problem with DVDs is that after a few years, even if you never touch
them, the data starts getting lost. Good brands only delay the inevitable.


--
SilverSlimer
Minds: @silverslimer

"Mayayana" wrote

| Why not DVDs or CDs?

Also, disks are safer. If you sent a stick to me I
wouldn't use it. If you happened to have a bug on
your computer it could have moved itself to the
stick. (That's how the US/Israeli attack on Iran
was done. They just put the bug on sticks and
left them around for dumbass nuclear plant
technicians to find and use.)

No matter how much you trust someone, there's
a risk with a stick. A disk, assuming no autorun
enabled, allows the recipient to actually just copy
off JPGs or other image files with extremely low risk.

I only use sticks for copying files between my
own computers, or for backup.

In article , Mayayana
wrote:


No matter how much you trust someone, there's
a risk with a stick.

there's a risk with anything. nothing is 100% safe.

A disk, assuming no autorun
enabled, allows the recipient to actually just copy
off JPGs or other image files with extremely low risk.

same for a usb stick, but either way, those files could contain
malware...

I only use sticks for copying files between my
own computers, or for backup.

it's both faster and more convenient to copy over the network.

Roger Blake wrote:
On 2018-12-03, Paul wrote:
There's always microfilm.

Cheapest would probably be to burn the files onto CD or DVD, assuming that
the recipient has an optical drive available.


If the intention is to distribute a company catalog,
the "AOL" "200 free hours" effect cuts in. Your
mailer CD goes right into the bin with all those
free AOL materials.

You want a distribution mechanism that makes
the customer go "what the...". Nobody expects
Microfiche.

The same effect goes with these. If you can't afford
a connector, you're not going into my computer socket :-)
I wouldn't put the company catalog on one of these either.

https://www.flashbay.ca/products/key-flash-drive

The only reliable design, is the metal barrel USB connector.

And if using USB, you want to consider why the product
is so cheap, where it's coming from, and so on.

https://security.stackexchange.com/q...tion-of-badusb

I was going to suggest an SD card, but the price on
those is quite a bit higher than equivalent USB sticks.
It's what the market will bear, in terms of pricing.

Paul

Mayayana wrote:

"Mayayana" wrote

| Why not DVDs or CDs?

Also, disks are safer. If you sent a stick to me I
wouldn't use it. If you happened to have a bug on
your computer it could have moved itself to the
stick. (That's how the US/Israeli attack on Iran
was done. They just put the bug on sticks and
left them around for dumbass nuclear plant
technicians to find and use.)

No matter how much you trust someone, there's
a risk with a stick. A disk, assuming no autorun
enabled, allows the recipient to actually just copy
off JPGs or other image files with extremely low risk.

I only use sticks for copying files between my
own computers, or for backup.

Technically there's no difference between a DVD and a stick in terms of
malware. A malware can just easily copy itself to/from a stick as it can a
DVD.

On 2018-12-03, nospam wrote:
cheapest is upload to a photo sharing site and send a link.

Yes, I should have said "cheapest physical media" - I personally stay
away from the various free file sharing sites since when something on the
internet is free it means *you* are the product being sold.

Of course I have my own server that can be used for file distribution
if desired, but can understand why someone who does not might want to
mail physical media.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger Blake (Posts from Google Groups killfiled due to excess spam.)

NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
Don't talk to cops! -- http://www.DontTalkToCops.com
Badges don't grant extra rights -- http://www.CopBlock.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 2018-12-03, Chris wrote:
Technically there's no difference between a DVD and a stick in terms of
malware. A malware can just easily copy itself to/from a stick as it can a
DVD.

The difference is that USB devices are "smart" and there are USB exploits
that can compromise your system before the OS even has a chance to load
a file.

AFAIK recent versions of Windows by default will not autorun content
from removable media like optical discs. Of course it might be possible
to jigger up a CD or DVD to do something nasty to the optical drive's
firmware though I've not read of anything like that happening. If you want
to be 100% safe you need to pull the plug and go back to a typewriter
for letters and photographic prints from film for pictures.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger Blake (Posts from Google Groups killfiled due to excess spam.)

NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
Don't talk to cops! -- http://www.DontTalkToCops.com
Badges don't grant extra rights -- http://www.CopBlock.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------