USB Sticks

Life Technology
#1

My wife has started a new job where the boss purposely provides too few and too old computers. We bought a laptop for her, but I know these kinds of places use a lot of USB sticks to transfer documents among each other, but also to the electronic whiteboards. In a situation like this,

  1. What is the most universal cloud-based storage option for sharing documents without having to log in on the whiteboard? (Also, some electronic whiteboards are run on Windows-based computers, and some are standalone devices running Android.)

  2. Barring that, what’s the best way to keep a USB stick safe from viruses in such a loose environment?

Thanks.

1 Like
#2

I would invest in a NAS. Cheap ones start at $4699 TWD. Everyone can log in, share files and work together on it. Everyone can simply just have a network drive in their PC accessing those files and it supports user accounts.

Higher end models also support snapshots which help protect against unintentional modifications in files, IE ransomware attacks or accidentally saving something in a file you didn’t want to save.

Buy NAS, buy hard drive, good to go, no USB sticks needed.

If you have questions, lemme know! I have a few of these.

#3

The problem isn’t so much that, it’s if you buy a NAS or use a cloud based solution, the rest of the company has to be on board too.

Otherwise you have a NAS, no one in the company will log into it to transfer files, and you’re back in square one.

If they insist on USB sticks, a lot of newer laptops have too few ports. You’ll need a USB hub or something. I would think NAS or cloud based solutions (cloud storage is one reason why NAS seems to have fallen out of popularity) would be better than walking around the office giving physical sticks. But then you get a lot of Taiwanese who are absolutely clueless on computers and the company would have to spend time (that they pay for) to teach everyone how to use a different system than they are used to. Not something a new employee can do…

1 Like
#4

That is the problem. I think what you can do is protect yourself, not the entire office. Keep using USB stick, but just make sure when it comes to you, scan it with whatever antivirus software so that you are safe.

#5

Any cloud-based storage option will require a log in, but if its a standalone device using Android, they usually only allow uploading files not downloading. If they are run with a Windows-based PC then it works fully and since you don’t want people accessing your personal files the solution could be creating an account using your work email and only storing company info there.

Android-based whiteboards usually support SAMBA file sharing, you can connect to the whiteboard via the network and send the files you need to the device that way.

USB would be the easiest way but I would only plug it in whiteboards and your personal PC. Keep in mind you don’t want to keep critical data in a USB for long-term use.

#6

How about finding a new job. Why use your own money to build this business for the boss. Sounds terrible.

#7

That’s the bigger issue. I mean you can use whatever system but if you are using it for work the company must use it too. Otherwise it’s useless and a waste of money.

This applies for any filesharing platform, devices, NAS, etc.

Because it’s not you uploading files to some cloud, it’s your coworker having to learn how to upload to the cloud, your boss learning how to do it, etc. and if they’re serious about this then the company would have already signed into a cloud based file sharing service that doesn’t compromise company security.

If they will not do it, you volunteering to do it isn’t going to help.