Can you put your “life” on an IPod (or USB key) and discard the laptop?

It is possible to store your “life” on your IPod, but you would need to use open source software and lose the ability to integrate with devices soch as mobile phones and PDA’s. This is something that I have wanted to write about for a while, but chose not to do so. It is not my core competence and outside the theme of this web site. However, there have been some recent articles written which has provide the detail that I can refer to. Palm also released the Palm Lifedrive , which is a commercial offering of putting to your “life” on an IPod. It also suggests the demand for “portable” type devices is high enough to be of comercial interest. This article has technical parts. I understand that people may not be technically skilled. I have not provided comprehensive instructions. For the first three people to ask, I am more than happy to help.

This article assumes that you will be able to utilise the computers of friends, the workplace or an internet cafe as you move around. Any reference to the IPod applies equally to USB drives. USB drives are very cheap and you can carry them on your key ring.

Geek to Live: Carry your life on a thumb drive (or iPod), Lifehacker.com, 7th June 2006),

Extract:

This means that you carry the data and email software on your Ipod. To use the software, you plug the IPod into the USB port of any Windows computer. The IPod appears as an external drive. Open the external drive, open the “Portable Apps” folder and start the program you need. For example, run Thunderbird to check your email, Firefox to browse the web or OpenOffice to work with documents.

Ofcourse an IPod can be lost. I recommend two thing – encryption and synchronising your data with another computer.

Geek to Live: Encrypt your data, Lifehacker.com, 2nd June 2006

I recommend that you read the article for the details.

Practical tips for Windows users

• Make sure your Outlook file is stored in your My documents folder. If not, move it to this location.
• Place the “portableapps” folder in your “my documents” (assuming Windows XP)
• Use Syncback (free version) to synchronise the “My documents” folder on your laptop, with a “My documents” folder on your IPod.
• It is critical that devices plugged in to computers are ejected. This tells the computer to write any information stored in memory to the IPod. If you do not eject, there is a risk of data loss.
• If you do use the Truecrypt folders, I recommend storing your data in the simple catgories. I use “current”, “archive”, “library” and specific projects files. All current work is placed in the “current” truecrypt file. Thus, I only need to open one Truecrypt volume to complete 80% of my work. It also means that only one file needs to be synchronised. The current folder would also contain your “portableapps” folder.

If you follow these tips above, then you can use the “backup” on your IPod to “work” in the event of a system crash, or when you travel.

Problems and challenges with the approach above

• To gain the maximum benefit, it require the user to use applications that work as portable apps. These are listed at Portableapps.com. Microsoft products do not work as portable apps.
• These applications do not synchronise with devices like mobile phones. They are likely to do so in future. Device synchronisation is essential for most users and is a major barrier to adopting Linux on the desktop. There is one project that project in its early stages of development that I am following. The ability to synchronise between Google calendar and mobile devices (see Gcalsync.com ).
• Any data in a Truecrypt folder can not be indexed.

It is possible to put your life on a laptop, but will involves sacrificing a few functions.

Food for extreme thought of the advanced user

• It is probably possible to use Firefox on the laptop, synchronise and then use the portable applications on the IPod. Extreme care would need to be taken.
• It is possible to put a virtual machine onto the IPod. A Virtual Machine is an digital copy of your computer stored in a file. To load your computer, you plug in the IPod and “boot” from your IPod. In simple terms, instead of booting from the hard disk inside the computer, it boots from the hard drive on the Ipod. A friend of mine is going to try putting a “virtual machine” on an IPod. I probably won’t write about it here, but give me a call.

I hope this provides an insight. Unfortunately, it is not something that most people will be able to implement. I would, however, expect many Linux devices to offer this functionality as standard.

It is possible to store your “life” on your IPod as well as your music. This is something that I have wanted to write about for a while, but chose not to do so. It is not my core competence and outside the theme of this web site. There have been some recent articles written which has provided the detailed instructions and Palm recently announced the Lifedrive. The Palm Lifedrive is aimed at those people that want to be more “portable” and confirms this may be of interest. I will provide links to the articles and extract the salient points for your convenience. I understand that people may not be technically skilled. For the first three people to ask, I am more than happy to help.

This article assumes that you will be able to utilise the computers of friends, the workplace or an internet cafe as you move around. Any reference to the IPod applies equally to USB drives. USB drives are very cheap and you can carry them on your key ring.

Geek to Live: Carry your life on a thumb drive (or iPod), Lifehacker.com, 7th June 2006),

Extract:

This means that you carry the data and email software on your Ipod. To use the software, you plug the IPod into the USB port of any Windows computer. The IPod appears as an external drive. Open the external drive, open the “Portable Apps” folder and start the program you need. For example, run Thunderbird to check your email, Firefox to browse the web or OpenOffice to work with documents.

An IPod can be lost. I recommend two thing – encryption and synchronising your data with another computer

I recommend that you read the article for the details.Practical tips for Windows users

• Make sure your Outlook file is stored in your My documents folder. If not, move it to this location.
• Place the “portableapps” folder in your “my documents” (assuming Windows XP)
• Use Syncback (free version) to synchronise the “My documents” folder on your laptop, with a “My documents” folder on your IPod.
• It is critical that devices plugged in to computers are ejected. This tells the computer to write any information stored in memory to the IPod. If you do not eject, there is a risk of data loss.
• If you do use the Truecrypt encryption, I recommend storing your data in the simple catgories. I use “current”, “archive”, “library” and specific projects files. All current work is placed in the “current” truecrypt file. Thus, I only need to open one Truecrypt volume to complete 80% of my work. It also means that only one file needs to be synchronised. The current folder would also contain your “portableapps” folder.

If you follow these tips above, then you can use the “backup” on your IPod to “work” in the event of a system crash, or when you travel.

Problems and challenges with the approach above

• To gain the maximum benefit, it require the user to use applications that work as portable apps. These are listed at Portableapps.com. Microsoft products do not work as portable apps.
• These applications do not synchronise with devices like mobile phones. They are likely to do so in future. Device synchronisation is essential for most users.
• Any data in a Truecrypt folder can not be indexed.

Food for extreme thought of the advanced user

• It is probably possible to use Firefox on the laptop, synchronise and then use the portable applications on the IPod. Extreme care would need to be taken.
• It is possible to put a virtual machine onto the IPod. A Virtual Machine is an digital copy of your computer stored in a file. To load your computer, you plug in the IPod and “boot” from your IPod. In simple terms, a computer will boot from the “hard drive” on the IPod, rather than its own internal hard drive. A friend of mine is going to try putting a “virtual machine” on an IPod. I probably won’t write about it here, but give me a call.

I hope this provides an insight. Unfortunately, it is not something that most people will be able to implement. I would, however, expect many Linux devices and mobile phones to offer this “portable” functionality as standard onver the coming years. The Palm Lifedrive appears to be the first. A number of leading phone manufacturers recently announced a collaborative alliance which should result in more “portable” devices.

Linux Coming to Your Mobile Phone, Mobility Site, Jun 15, 2006

Extract:

The partnership amongst mobile phone manufacturers to develop a common version of Linux for mobile devices is important. It extends open source to devices and makes it easier to integrate the desktop with these phones, PDA’s, IPod’s and other devices. This is a significant hurdle to the adoption of Linux on the desktop. Is this an opportunity for entrepreneurs to reshape the status quo with an integrated open source “portable” offering?

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