how to save word doc on usb flash card?

[buddha]

How do I save a doc in word from my PC desktop using a usb flash card (sony
usb 2.0) 128M? what exact steps do I take to transfer this to my mac laptop
(have word for mac) , work on the document there, then use the card to save
changes on the apple and load them on to my pc desktop (and vice-versa).

many thanks for a great forum.

 

[Michel Bintener]

I'm not sure if it's advisable to save Word files directly to a USB stick. I
think there's still a discussion going on (saving directly to floppy disks
can cause some trouble, so don't do it), so for the time being, I'd
recommend saving your files on the hard disk first and only then
transferring them from the HD to the USB stick. And if you want to work on
those files on your Mac, transfer them to your hard disk first, and move
them back to your USB stick when you're done working on them.
Assuming that it's a recent PC, with Windows 2000 or XP, simply connect your
USB stick to it, and it should appear as an external drive. Drag your file
on the icon that shows up in the My Computer window, and it should be on
there. Eject the stick by right-clicking on the icon that shows up in the
toolbar on the lower right corner. On your Mac (again, assuming that it's a
recent Mac, preferably running OS X), plug it in, and it should show up as
an external drive in the Finder. Drag the file to a location of your choice,
work on it, save it, and then drag it back to the external drive. Unmount
the drive by dragging it into the Trash.
I hope this answered your question. You don't give many details (version of
Word used, versions of both Mac and Windows OS) so this answer was fairly
general. If you're still unsure, post back.

Michel

PS: I've just realised that I've written USB stick instead of flash card,
but the procedure is the same.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi buddha,

When you are using a USB or Firewire memory device (flash card, external
floppy or hard drive, or jump drive) there are some general rules to
follow on both Mac and Windows.

On both operating systems these devices are "hot swappable." You don't
have to turn the computer off before plugging-in and unplugging these
devices. But it is essential on both systems to make sure that you eject
the drive devices before you disconnect them from the system. If you
don't properly eject them, you can corrupt the device and lose all of
your data.

If you should accidentally disconnect one before you eject it, the
operating system will probably warn you that a device has suddenly
disconnected. Before you do anything else, plug the device back in and
then use the proper eject method. Most of the time you won't lose your
data if you do this, but it is very risky and can cause device
corruption and/or files to be locked. It's best to always eject before
disconnect.

That being said, there is nothing different about saving files to
external devices than internal ones. On Windows the device becomes a
letter drive. On the Mac it becomes a mounted volume on the desktop. The
same rules apply - if the drive is full you can't write to it, you
should always make a backup, etc.

Because it is easy to accidentally corrupt a file by forgetting to eject
these devices it is often suggested to save a file on the local hard
drive and then copy it to the external device. That's a good habit to
get into because some of these devices are small, easy to loose and
could find themselves getting destroyed in the wash and dry cycle of
your laundry. If you have important work it's great to have it saved
someplace else in case you need it.

There are many good synchronization programs available. A good work flow
practice would be to create a folder on your Windows PC and another on
your Mac PC. Keep your documents on each machine in their respective
folders and use a synchronization utility to keep the external device up
to date.

Another consideration is security and privacy. If you lose your external
device then everyone has access to the documents on it. Taking my
previous suggestion one step further you should encrypt and password
protect all of the documents on the external device. Allume's Stuffit
Deluxe does a nice job of encrypting and also compressing files, so you
can get a lot more stuff onto your external device.

To summarize:
Save to a local drive so you always have a backup.
Use a utility to synchronize, encrypt and password protect the contents
of your external device

-Jim