While fixing computers isn’t my regular gig these days, I still like to be ready if someone asks me to look at their system. In my bag I keep 4 USB drives. 2 contain portable apps if I find myself needing to use a “Guest” computer (i.e. a friend’s). One has Windows apps, the other has Mac equivalents. The third drive is a 64 Gig drive that I use for temporarily moving files around, and the 4th is a lowly 16 GB. But that 16 GB is what Batman would carry.

The 16 GB drive is my secret computer-fixing weapon. First off, it is loaded with commonly used ISO images that would otherwise be on their own USB drive. Thanks to a great little utility named YUMI, I can load as many ISO images on to that drive as I like (and have space) and have a nice menu pop up to let me select which ISO I want to actually boot.

And what ISOs do I keep on there?

• The Windows 7 ISO image 
• A Windows XP ISO image
• The System Rescue CD
• Linux ISOs for the OS’es I might have to support
• BackTrack
• The VMWare Cold Clone ISO (A bit dated, but never know when I’ll need to virtualize a physical machine)

One could also keep speciality ISO images on there if they needed. Batman’s USB drive eliminated my need for carrying a bunch of specially burned CDs and DVDs, and perhaps now you can make your own and clear out space too!