Manchester City Library

Making work portable, especially cross-platform compatible - meaning it can be opened on any computer, whatever its operating system - is always a challenge. We’ve been struggling with it here at the library for awhile now.

As of last Thursday, I am pleased to report, that we have come up with a solution. We got a whole box of nifty little gadgets called USB drives* and we’re now selling them at the information desks in both libraries. They’re going for $10 for 512mb. I know it seems like a lot, but consider that would need around 350 floppy disks to match the storage capacity. Not to mention that $10 is the best deal around!

To use a USB drive

Simply insert it into the USB port on the computer - at the library we have extensions to put a port conveniently on top of the table near the keyboard. Be careful, it does matter which way it goes in.

To eject click once on the small green arrow icon at the bottom of the screen. Click OK when asked if you’d like to eject.

To save to a USB drive

1. Choose File, then Save As.
2. Choose to Save in Removable Disk (in the My Computer folder).
3. Give your file a meaningful name.
4. Click Open.
5. Your file is now saved.

To open a saved file

1. Open the application you would like to use - Microsoft Word, for example.
2. Chose File, then Open.
3. Navigate to Removable Disk (in My Computer).
4. Find the file you want to open and click to highlight it.
5. Click Open.
6. Your file should open.