AutoPatcher on USB flash drive?
A message from our CD/DVD sales guy:
Users suggested this option several months ago and because of price I have hesitated on this idea.
Luckily over the months prices have been slowly coming down and I now feel confident that I can make this option affordable.
However I want to test this idea and see if this is something that you users would like and would purchase. I of course cannot afford to go out and buy 10 drives hoping that people want to buy them. I also do not want to make people wait a few days for me to place an order for the drives. I'm just hoping to get enough feedback on this to make the decision to buy some drives or not.
I am currently thinking of a price point of $29.99. This will be a 2Gig drive that will include all AP OS's included. Some may consider this price high, but I plan on using quality drives such as Kingston, SanDisk, etc. I do not want to take any chances on the other brands. They may be cheaper, but you normally get what you pay for. With the cheaper drives you get ones that break easier, have slow memory on them, etc. I'm contacting a few sellers hoping for some possible price breaks and may be able to cut the price a few dollars??
Please feel free to give me any thoughts or suggestions. post here or even feel free to email me (orders@autopatcher.com).
Thank you,
Ben
Official AutoPatcher Distribution
June 18th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I vote YES
I like the Flash Drive that the lid is not detachable ie the 180Degree type.
Also some of these drives are too fat to have more than one USB device mounted together (actually a fault with M/B design)
So size is important!
June 18th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
i think it’s a great idea! Especially for users who need multiple copies, ie XP + 2000!
June 18th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Sounds good, one suggestion: Autopatcher should be *installed* on the drive not have the installers on the drive. That way you can plug it in and install the patches without the extra step of installing AP on the target system.
–GZ
June 18th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Obviously, anyone with a usb drive can do this for themselves, just as they can burn a CD with Autopatcher on it. However, if pre-installing it is a way to create a little bit of profit for a person/group-of-people who work so hard creating something that saves so many of us time and effort, AND gets it out to a larger audience, I’m all for it.
June 18th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
First thanks to all for the feedback so far. I’ll address all comments in order received and add a little more information/details about this.
I personally have not “played” with any devices that Kim has described. I did recently purchase a SanDisk that is retractable but was a little hesitant on buying it. I just do not know how well these moving parts will hold up over time. I wear mine around my neck and actually find myself “playing” with it quite often. By playing with I mean popping it open and then closing it…..over and over again. Anyways, this is the preferred device I would like to send out:
http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1168)-SanDisk_Cruzer_Micro_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx
But remember the device may vary but I will only purchase brand NEW devices from reputable sellers and it will be limited to the SanDisk, Kingston, and possibly one other manufacturer. I will do my best to match performance numbers with all devices also, trying to get ReadyBoost devices because they offer decent performance.
Multiple copies is the reason behind this idea, well that and having a reusable type of media. Currently all copies of AP that can be combined (2K, XP, 2K3) take up close to 2Gig of space on the DVD orders. This is basically an alternative to placing a DVD order. When the Vista and XP 64bit versions are fixed up so they can be combined with the others then they should be included on the flash drive, unless I run into space issues. I have also been considering the possibility of doing a 1Gig drive with individual versions on it. However I’m not finding that great of prices on the 1Gig drives and think it would be easier to just to have one option.
AP will be installed on the drive and should autorun when plugged into the computer. I agree that anyone can do this themselves. But anyone could also burn their own DVD. This is possibly going to be offered just to help users and give them options. Users have requested this in the past. There are still a lot of users stuck out there on dialup so downloading all of this is not an option for them. Some people would also like the time saved by just placing an order so they do not have to go through all the installs and burning a disc. Money made on all orders pays me a few dollars for my time and goes back to the site to help pay hosting costs, etc. Making a couple of dollars for my time isn’t too much to ask I don’t think, considering the hundreds of dollars of items I have to buy so I’m ready to send out orders when I receive them.
I am also thinking that maybe we could do some type of “update” for the drives?? Not necessarily every month, just whenever the buyer decides they would like the device updated with the latest version. If it’s been 3 or even 6 months since you purchased the drive, you could still send it back and for a small fee have the drive updated. Maybe $5 or $6 to cover postage, handling, and $1 for my time. If we offer that option I would suggest that the buyer keep the original packaging for the drive so it’s easier to ship back and forth.
One possible issue that I see, installed software from the factory. I personally cannot stand that U3 crap and always uninstall it from the drive and format it! So people may actually want that software and I may possibly need the space for AP. I’m going to try and steer clear of the U3 drives, but they may be cheaper so I will have to buy them. Most of them come with encryption software also and some users may want that. I think we will probably keep the software just so people are getting everything that they paid for? Maybe I should start a poll in the forum so people can vote and just have majority win? Or maybe we will get enough comments here that will help with the decision.
Thanks again everyone so far. With the comments made so far, I think I may have Antonios setup the buttons on the ordering page soon? I do want to hear from more of you though. Any thoughts and comments will be greatly appreciated.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:47 am
hey, this is a very interesting idea. But why didn’t you mention Transcend? I think it is at the top, even above Kingston. Do you in western countries prefer Kingston than Transcend? (odd, since Transcend is also an American brand). I tested copying 500MB and Transcend cost significantly 90 seconds faster (2m45s compared to 4m15s). It is currently ahead in the 9-12MB/sec writing technology, too! Just a question, since newspapers in my country praise Transcend so much.
June 19th, 2007 at 6:17 am
2 types of 180 degree drives:
http://www.shop4tech.com/assets/electronic/feature.jpg
I was thinking of this one:
http://www.techshout.com/images/traveldrive-mem.jpg
Also the Sandisk model is a bit cheap with its plastic case
If you could throw in one of these:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/10/16gb-iocell-celldisk-worlds-largest-flash-drive/
To be ready for the future updates !
June 19th, 2007 at 8:57 am
I wouldn’t buy one.
Talked to a few other folks that use AP–they have no interest.
Just my two cents.
Good luck on your decision. =D
June 19th, 2007 at 8:57 am
GET THESE INTO THE BIG BOX RETAIL STORES!
Imagine AutoPatcher USB Sticks at every checkout in Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy across the nation.
Do them as XP only, you could sell them for $9.99, with one year free updates…
This would be fabulous for those still on dialup who would like to upgrade, but are too damn impatient and hit quit when it tells them ‘4 hours to download’ the updates!
June 19th, 2007 at 9:16 am
http://blog.techarp.com/archives/2006/08/01/fancy-a-64gb-usb-flash-drive/
I’ll pay it off !
June 19th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Good Ideal, I have no ideal how many would buy though. Like many people who live in rural areas I’m limited to dial-up satellite is available but still to expensive. I download Auto Patcher in town on a friend’s DSL and save it to my jump drive to use at home.
It works quite well. I want to complement your team on an excellent product (I just found it last month), as I stated I’m stuck with dial up in the past I tried to get all the updates at my friend’s and save them to my jump drive. I would usually end up not finding one or two that could be saved and have to spend an hour or more trying to download. I use a V92 modem with call waiting so any incoming calls would cause me to lose my internet connection. One last comment I have tried several flash drives and like the A –DATA PD8 series better read and write speeds and a lifetime warranty. I’ve been using a 2gig for over 2 years now without any data loss and it’s reformatted at least 5 times a week.
June 19th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Agreed Dilbert, i wouldn’t buy one either… i mean we could do that now but just with our own usb drives or burn to a cd or network share it.
If space is the issue with all the releases why not just put it on a dvd?
Good luck on what ever you decide on doing.
June 20th, 2007 at 2:45 am
I vote no.
This is too far afield. The extra hassles you will be causing for yourself are not worth the trouble. Anyone who would need such a thing can accomplish it via the CD or DVD distribution, and they have the benefit of buying whatever model they want.
June 20th, 2007 at 3:53 am
I Agree with Nobody.
I put the DVD version i got on to my 40Gb external laptop harddrive to allow an easy instillation onto an older laptop with CD drive only and no problems. Plus on ebay you can get a 20gb version for less that €50 about $30 so it kinda puts it into perspective. I know which method i’ll be sticking with.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Can someone please tell me why would AP on a flash drive be useful ? What’s the advantage ? What’s the point ?
I’m sorry if this is a noob question but I really want to understand.
Thank You.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Well if you use computers for a living (building or servicing) AP on a flash drive is nice because you can update lots of computers with 1 drive rather than installing it over and over. And it is easier to just use a flash drive.
It is also alot easier to keep a flash drive in your poket then a CD or DVD.
And my 4GB Kingston has alot of things on it including all versions of AP. I would probally never purchase one because I can just update my current drive but I think it is a good option to CD’s or DVD’s.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
> Well if you use computers for a living (building or servicing)
> AP on a flash drive is nice because you can update lots of
> computers with 1 drive rather than installing it over and over.
> And it is easier to just use a flash drive.
It’s possibly cheaper to just get a flash drive yourself and copy any AP versions into it.
Besides, it’s a one-time purchase; you’ll have to download or order another to get an updated AP when another month comes in.
I think it’s only for those who’s lazy enough not to get out and buy him/herself a flash disk to put AP in it.
Or for those who’s willing to simply donate some money to the AP team.
Personally, I’ve bought myself a brand new 2GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro that’s less than US$20 a few weeks ago.
With the Internet costing lesser and lesser, and with AP’s being available via the BT network, I can leave my BT client open and leave it running if I don’t have the time waiting for a direct download to finish (and contribute to the AP distribution somewhat this way).
From one point-of-view, the idea of having AP-on-a-stick is practical, but it’s still a cheaper solution if I just buy a flash disk and download the many versions of AP myself.
Don’t get me wrong with me saying all of this; I’m just trying to be objective.
June 20th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Please consider some type of process that would allow a Flash Drive to be connected, click a button,
and it would update the Flash with the latest AP updates since the last time it was run…
Fully automate it so that your flash drive always has the latest of all updates, and standalone modules.
I think you should offer it in several sizes. It would be nice to have room for other software besides AP.
June 20th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Interesting idea. But using high-end drives for AP is not good, better use cheaper drives on the net. They too can have fast access and transfer times, and rewritability or reliability is not too important, because they will not be for critical documents or longterm storage, but they are as a tool. I recommend Avixe platinum drive, they are cheap and have very good transfer times.
And don’t forget about AP logo or special design of the flash drive, to just make they really unique and money-worth!
June 20th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Sign me up. I will be glad to pay $50 for a four gig drive with versions.
M
June 20th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Why don’t you offer a service that allows people to send you their 2GB or larger drives and you just put the programs on and send them back?
Which is faster: CD or Flash? My experience with flash drives have always been a sad and slow one.
June 21st, 2007 at 6:42 am
Most of the time, using (a good) flash disk is faster than CD.
Even if they’re slower, they still sell for being more practical than CDs; easier to store too.
If a flash drive happens to be slow, then it might be :
1. You’re using an old, USB 1.1 type.
2. The port you’re connecting to is still USB 1.1.
3. Your flash disk has a bad “OS” that controls its read-write strategies and error corrections.
4. Your flash disk has a low-end (value?), generic memory module for its storage.
5. Your flash disk is dying.
6. Your USB port doesn’t get/deliver enough power for some reason.
June 21st, 2007 at 6:53 pm
My flash drives are now SD cards attached to an SD card reader that claims to support USB 2.0. My fastest SD card says 150x on it and it still stutters when playing quicktime movies directly off of it. CDs are cheap (pennies now) and DVDs are nearly as cheap.
Flash drives would make the experience a little environmentally friendly.
I vote you use a big flash drive and allow people to send them back for updates. The logistics will be slightly more difficult, but it would make using a flash drive slightly more logical since you are putting the latest updates on them and using their rewrite capabilities rather than store once. If someone sends them back to you, update it and send it back free. If someone who hasn’t bought from you sends you a drive, charge them a nominal fee and send it back.
Basically, charge a membership fee that includes a drive and free updates for a year. Those who send in their own drives for updates will incur a fee each time they send it in.
June 21st, 2007 at 7:18 pm
I don’t see the point of it at all.
DVD Rs are cheaper, and probably cheaper and more convenient to mail to people (toss it in a cardboard mailer and send it letter rate). If it gets lost in the mail, no big deal. It’s only a $0.30 disc.
For those worried about environmental waste, burn them to DVD RWs then.
With flash drives, you can already see that people have specific wishes for whicih flash drive is used (form factor, the cap, capacity, etc).
if you want to go the flash drive route, how about SD Cards? People can always get one of those pocket USB readers and convert it to a flash drive. SD is flat, so it’s easier to mail around, which is a consideration when sending it back for an update. Don’t know how the prices compare to a USB drive.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:48 pm
So ahhh……
why don’t we have extremely cheap usb sticks that have rom chips with whatever data is wanted on them instead of nvram chips
so as to make them much cheaper for distributing as a data distribution media
come on, some company could sure as heck make $ selling that !
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:31 am
The whole basis of this discussion has been based on what users WANT. This ties into me a bit also. In order for me to do whatever I can do, I need low prices…..that essentially get passed on to the users/order’ers. I mentioned before also, that I really can not afford to spend several hundred dollars buying things that will never sell. What I pay for something is very close to what an orderer is going to pay. I’m not in this to make money, just help people and provide the options they need and/or want. You have to understand that if this option where to be available……I would have to spend hundreds of dollars up front. If nothing happens with this idea, then I LOSE. I don’t think that is fair? I’m not the type of person that can afford to take a risk and lose hundreds of dollars…..I have a family of 4 to feed! I cannot take the chance of spending our grocery money hoping that users want this option and then am able to recover my “investment” into helping people. I’m not Apple…..selling $3 devices at $70. I am just trying to provide an option that a few users suggested.
Anyways, I highly doubt that this will happen. I greatly appreciate most of the feedback received and it has helped with my decision.
I am always open to options so if anyone ever wants me to do something for them, I will do it. For example, if someone emailed me tomorrow wanting AP on their drive, I would gladly do it for several dollars (to cover shipping costs and my time). If someone wants a new drive shipped from me with AP on it…..send me an email and I’ll do my best to get the best price for the drive.
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:43 am
Like some of the above posts, forget the flash drive idea; just stick with DVD distribution - it’s cheaper, less hassle.
Users that want USB storage can do it themselves (like me :)
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Outsource the DVD burning to speed up the process. The Gutenberg project has something similar with volunteers sending out the dvds with books on them.
June 24th, 2007 at 10:37 am
@nobody
Check if it’s USB 2.0 Hi-Speed or Full Speed.
Hi-Speed is the “real” USB 2.0 transfer rate while Full Speed is simply USB 1.1 speed.
Also, it might be the USB SD card reader that has the problem, not the SD cards themselves.
But personally I don’t know of any “quality” USB SD card reader so I have no clue why it stutters when playing back videos.
@Ben
Yup, it’s better to have it on a per request basis rather than having a “ready stock”.
Though I have a concern for having users mailing their drives to you to be filled with the latest AP and then you sending them back.
If somehow one of the drives is lost, who’s responsible for it?
Yes, it should be the shipping service, but who’ll be the one asking around and filing a missing item report to the shipping service?
I sure hope it won’t be you; especially when it’s lost on the way back to the owner.
There should be a policy for this kind of shipping risk; something in the line of “the risks are all yours” when users decided to ship their flash drives. =b
Partly joking about the last liability part, but it does need to be thought over for allowing users to mail their drives to you.
June 24th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
I am pretty much 100% behind this. I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy a USB drive. I have almost no need for one, but I feel like I should have one, y’know? As it is my wife doesn’t think I need one. But I can talk her into getting AutoPatcher on a USB drive, I think. It’ll save us bandwidth.
But then you run into a problem: by the time y’all get it to me, there’s a new one coming out the next month, and I have to download that.
Some of these people are right. Anyone can do this or burn a CD/DVD or put it on the network. So don’t cater to them (while I realize they’re your primary market). Cater to those of us power users on dialup. Offer a “package” where you can get the thumb drive and a “subscription”, say, for a year. Or just the subscription. The subscription would be, every month y’all send out CDs with AP on it. You could have a subscription to one for one price (say, AutoPatcher XP) or all for another price, in case they need to go on a DVD-ROM or two or more CDs.
Because if y’all had that, I would get the thumb drive and the subscription, and just update the thumb drive.
Which reminds me - you will add the “update a USB disk” option, right? Look - someone gets the full release you put on the disk, and next month they download it - when installing they should be able to update that thumb drive, keep it in the latest files …right?
You guys sign me up or whatever… You offer a 2GB flash drive loaded with the latest Autopatcher stuff for $29.99 or less - drop me a line and I’ll buy one.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:27 am
I like this idea!
Please consider using a USB disk that can be used in win vista for ready boost!
June 26th, 2007 at 11:38 am
What about a menu option on the CD/DVD that copies autopatcher to a flash drive. Then everyone can fill or refill their own drive. That cuts down on mailing back and forth. And cuts the time it requires to copy to the drive. You can still offer the drive as an option.
Also everyone can just install autopatcher to a flash drive or copy the contents of a CD\DVD.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:54 am
where june
June 29th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Whenever it’s ready.
Stop posting things not relevant to a topic just because you want to be noticed.
June 30th, 2007 at 6:26 am
TBH, I don’t think it’s a particularly good idea. How much premium are people willing to pay to save themselves copying the installed files across to their preferred brand of flash drive? Not much, and for that, you get a whole load more hassle.
I have AP on a flash drive, and it works fine. The only possible improvement I’d suggest is perhaps building in an auto-update mechanism. Perhaps include a link to the latest torrent file at http://www.bittorrent.com/publish on a fixed location on your WWW site, and get AP to torrent it down when it’s running (under control of the user, of course).
June 30th, 2007 at 11:21 am
While the auto update is a nice suggestion, using BT for it isn’t so.
Unless the team wants to implement a BT client inside AP, it’s too much of a hassle.
Probably “not much” of a work, but it’s still wasting some time for something not really needed when a HTTP-based (DDL) update is enough if the AP team really wants to implement an auto update feature.
Mind the last “if”.
Regarding “How much premium are people willing to pay to save themselves copying the installed files across to their preferred brand of flash drive?”, I have no idea either.
But if there are people who’s willing, then why not?
It might open up new ways for people to contribute something to the AP development.
July 1st, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I see I didn’t make a certain point clear in my last entry. For those of you living in metropolitan areas on Cable internet, it may be easy to forget that some of your rural counterparts can’t get either cable or DSL. Earthlink dialup is literally the best I can do. It’s good for surfing, but it’s weak on downloading big files.
So while you might think “oh but I could download it in 25 seconds” remember that it’ll take my connection about 12 hours. Just a reminder for those on broadband and a reiteration of thanks to the dev/sales team for this idea, with hopes it goes through.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:12 am
There have been a few programs that are worth so much that I gladly pay good money for them. Example: I donated $50 to Spybot because that program has saved me hours of time fixing NOOB’s computers. I would be happy to donate $200 to give you the option to purchase some USB drives so that the few people who live in rual areas can use AP. I dont think that charging a few dollars is unreasonable. Your time is valuable also. I have already used AP on three machines, and I have three more to go, and that is just this week. The time you have saved me is priceless, and I sure dont mind chipping in some “seed” money, no strings attached, to help you out. Perhaps others on this forum can help out also. Just a thought. I know most posters here know how to use a USB drive, and have high speed access, but many are forced to live in a dialup world, and would appreciate the availability of a preloaded USB drive. Thanks for the good work.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I sure as hell would buy one as i do a lot of works updateing and installing and at $30 that’s about £20 i certainly would
Yes please where do i sign !!!
July 7th, 2007 at 9:53 am
If anyone would really like this option, please email me.
orders [at] autopatcher.com
@stoney, please email me.
July 8th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I would love to have a portable version of this thing!
Right now I’m collecting portable programs (feel free to check out PortableApps.com if you do too), and something like this would be great!
By the way - don’t forget to put a download link on the web site for those of us that already have USB flash drives!
July 8th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
^ Our program is totally portable. Just decompress the file that you have downloaded and put that folder in a USB pen. If you put the content of the Folder in the root (of a CD/DVD/USB pen) it will autorun.
July 31st, 2007 at 2:21 pm
I wouldn’t bother, don’t get me wrong its a good idea but I just can’t see people paying $29.99 for something I can get on a DVD for $10.
Someone mentioned the Environment, well imagine all the fuel used to transport these flash drives to and from the States - There not quite as friendly as first made out.
I’d be tempted to just carry on with the DVD’s perhaps buy one of these if you haven’t already: http://shop.cd-writer.com/acatalog/ALL_PRODUCTS_BUNDLE_DEALS_488.html
There expensive but really good, I used a few in the past and I have to say it was the easiest 500 DVD’s I’ve ever done!
Failing that have you considered other media formats, USB Drives are popular but SD cards are much smaller so you could save a very tiny amount of money on P&P as well as do a bundle offer on a Cardreader and make a couple extra £’s there…
You probably are already building a Auto Update feature into AP so I won’t suggest that but you could charge for membership or would Micro$ have issues? Mind you, that said they have a lot of issues anyway!
This looks well long in the comments box, I hope it doesn’t on the page… I always end up writing loads and I just don’t mean to - See what I mean?
Anyway thats enough RSI for me today…
August 9th, 2007 at 3:27 am
I salute this idea and when is ready please e-mail to me to buy “The Executive Pack” that mean that I need is 4 x USB with AiO (Win2K, WinXP, Win2K3, WinVista)
If it’s possible to make an a discount for this ;) and of course perhaps 3 months free updates ;)
I prefer USB stick like Transcend, PQI, Kingston, Cruiser, etc.
Some people think that this is BAD idea but think about regular updates and how many CD/DVD you need to rewrite with updates.
With USB stick is easy customizable and you can use on all brand new machines.
To the team: Why you not make an Autopatcher for Win98/98SE, because is still in use this OS!
August 20th, 2007 at 5:55 am
I would not buy one. IMHO the 4.7GB DVD is adequate.
FYI, I ran into an obstacle when requesting that my Australian ISP host the AutoPatcher files. The ISP (BigPond) claims that Microsoft will not give them permission to host Windows update redistributable files! If you have formal permission from Microsoft to redistribute then I’d like to receive a copy so that I can forward that to my ISP and perhaps get your AP packages hosted by BigPond.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:58 am
i have read all what you said, but i wil want to know if i can get one of those flash drive please, please, cos i know it is only your place i can get the it, plese try and send a message to me so that we can negotiate on how to deliver it
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Would be unfair of me to condemn these drives, but my experience has been less than decent.
At first the drive worked well but the next time I used it, it failed.
So say goodbye to your data. It might be just a cheap drive or it might have something to do with a difference of opinion about the availability of power (not talking about USB 1v2 here, but simply the problem of using a USB device on a shitty MOBO at the same time as a logitech laser mouse.
Is power (via USB) an isue that causes certain cheap USB flash drives to not behve?
Michael K