http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/ Engadget Comments for Don't throw that old USB flash drive away, donate it http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
]]>Jul 2nd 2009 5:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 9:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 9:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 9:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
Nah...]]>Dec 13th 2006 10:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
I'm all for recycling, charity and giving a helping hand, however...

Would the costs of collecting and processing individually donated USB drives not make this a less efficient method of delivering portable storage capacity than simply finding a bulk supplier using the same monies?

I also think Tiny Tim should pull himself up by his hand-me-down bootstrap.]]>Dec 13th 2006 10:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.nbc5i.com/news/10482632/detail.html]]>Dec 13th 2006 10:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 11:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
Thanks.]]>Dec 13th 2006 10:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 11:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
What's the problem there? To me it sounds like a bonus buy!]]>Dec 13th 2006 11:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
I could use a thumbdrive, even a 32 meg one.. I'm taking donations, and I live here in the States..
]]>Dec 13th 2006 11:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 11:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
"No mom, I swear... that porno was already on the card..."]]>Dec 13th 2006 11:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/ Okay...I'll play devil's advocate/buzzkill...
> Would the costs of collecting and processing
> individually donated USB drives not make this a
> less efficient method ...
>

Hi, this is Jeff from Inveneo. Donations are in fact cheaper for us than buying new ones bulk.

Processing the sticks is automated and we regularly ship equipment to our African installations.

As thumbdrives weigh almost nothing, there is essentially zero additional cost to packing them in with existing deliveries.

Though, if you want to save us the trouble of testing and erasing the drives, feel free to buy as some new ones!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/24W5GBT0UE8B0/ref=wl_web/]]>Dec 13th 2006 11:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
Donations may be down on expectations post Jan 30th 2007.]]>Dec 13th 2006 1:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 2:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 2:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 3:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Some people need a major reality check on here.]]>Dec 13th 2006 4:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
Thanks for the response to my question. Of course, now I feel like a heartless, naysaying grinch with a heart two sizes too small.]]>Dec 13th 2006 4:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
Lets face facts and not fear saying the truth. We are talking about shipping these off to countries well known for running email scams and ebay scams. So, what is to make anyone think they will not spend a bit of time extracting the good bits of "deleted" data from these thumb drives. Yes, yes, I know that they are not all busy trying to run a scam but the fact is that I see no reason to send them our old flash drives just as I see no reason to send our old shredded financial documents. We need to take out personal security seriously and this just seems too easy a method of extracting data.

The "reality check" is this; these drives can be a very big security risk. It is very careless of a group to ask for us to fork over our drives which may or may not contain personal data to send to Africa. Good intentions aside, they do not appear to have thought this through thoroughly. Nothing on their website points to what care they will take with properly handling these drives so as to avoid an information leak.

Also, where has Inveneo spent two seconds telling us what these will actually be used for? Their description is this “They can be used in 100's of useful ways by: Students, Aid Workers & Small Business Entrepreneurs. Uhh, that sounds like marketing speak to me. I would be hard pressed to think of 50 uses for a flash drive let alone 100s of them. They have the burden of showing us what reason they need them for and how they will be handled. It is not enough to tell us “they are for needy people”.]]>Dec 13th 2006 9:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 13th 2006 9:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 14th 2006 2:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/Dec 14th 2006 2:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/13/dont-throw-that-old-usb-flash-drive-away-donate-it/
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And especially for schools and learning institutions this would be a welcomed gift. Maybe we over at MemoTrek (http://www.memotrek.com) should think about something similar and start donating our returned or faulty drives to a good cause in developing countries. ]]>Oct 21st 2007 4:33AM