DearMYRTLE: NEED READERS' INPUT: Memory Stick Question

Providing practical, down-to-earth advice for family historians since 1995, online since 1985.

NEED READERS' INPUT: Memory Stick Question

From: Chuck FitzGerald <cdfitzg@chilitech.net>
DearMYRTLE,
One of the more economical devices on the market these days is the "memory stick." I was very interested in having the capability to load a Scan Disk 512MB unit with my PAF 5.2 database in seconds, and be able to walk next door (to my daughter's home) and dump the database into her computer in seconds. This provided a second home for our precious family history, and the ability to do the same thing for my grandkids.

My question? What else can be done with the memory stick? What am I missing? Have any of your correspondents suggested other brilliant uses for this type of tool? I have one of the units (containing my family database) in the vault at our bank. Is it adequately protected or does it need something extra/special?

DearREADERS,
My friend Chuck has some great questions. His computer has a "card reader" that accepts his camera's "scan disk" that's the 512MB card he talked about. Then files (not just photo files) can be saved to it, sort-of like a floppy disk, but with much greater capacity.

I used to use the extra card for my camera to carry the preferred photos to Wal-Mart to have them print out higher quality photos than I can get with my HP 5510 all-in-one. I say USED to, because Wal-Mart will allow you to upload the files directly via their website for pick-up later in the day at a store location you specify.

In our family we tend to use our Gmail accounts to receive those high quality images our 5-7MB digital cameras are making by default. We opt NOT to send the files through traditional email accounts (like AOL) that usually compress or resize each file to expedite email delivery and keep costs of email server space to a minimum. The smaller images also have lower image quality than the original shot, and we wanted to avoid that.

So, DearREADERS, have you been using your digital camera's spare memory sticks for anything else?

UPDATE: For Readers Input click HERE

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
6023 26th Street West PMB 352
Bradenton, FL 34207
http://www.DearMYRTLE.com