each thumb flash drive will say what it holds for example it might hold 4 gig or 8 gig or less or more. It depends on what type files you will be storing, picture and video files are very large so will take up much more room than just text or document files. go to the folder of the files you want to backup to the thumb drive and right click on it and choose properties it will tell you exactly how much is contained in that folder so you would know you need a flash drive that is big enough to hold that much at least. I think 4 gig is a nice size and they are fairly inexpensive. I buy 4 gig Kingston drives at Big Lots all the time for $12. You can buy them at walmart, best buy, or any stores that sell electronics and computer stuff. I stick with the name brand ones like Kingston, San disk, corsair etc. Here is the link to some over at buy.com Results Within Our Stores general guide for using one Overview of How to use a USB Flash Drive

Try this: right-click My Computer and choose Manage. From the window which appears, click Disk Management. The right side of the window will now list the available drives on your computer. You'll see Disk0 Basic (which should be your main hard drive). If you have a zip drive installed, it's probably Disk1. Your flash drive will be listed below your hard drive and zip drive. Look for Removable and the size of your flash drive. It should say something like 256MB or 512MB. It may also describe your flash drive (model, manufacturer) to the right. Once you've found it in the list, right-click once on it and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths. NOTE: Make sure you are changing your flash drive and not another drive. If you're changing something called C: or D: or E:, STOP and reconsider. Then click the Change button and choose a new drive letter for your flash drive. Choose something like Z or Q or Y or X. If you're not sure what drive letter to use, open up My Computer and pick something NOT already listed there. Once you've changed the drive letter, save your changes and exit the window. Your drive should now be displaying under My Computer with the new drive letter.

Your idea of using 2 thumb drives makes perfect sense. Then you always have 2 backups up to the point of the older copy. Not too much would be lost. Kingston has a respected name so you are doing good there too. Flash drive, thumb drive, memory stick all similar. However I have 2 what I call thumb or flash drives which are a one piece thing you simply plug in a USB port. I also have one which has a removeable memory card the same as those used in digital cameras. This also uses the USB port of course, I am not sure if it has any advantages over the one piece drives. We'll see what others think on the matter hopefully.

Or, did it say "Loaded with the following U3 programs CruzerSync synchronization software SignupShield password manager SKYPE "Make video calls from PC to PC" McAfee-30 day trial"... I believe the McAfee has the 30-day trial. Maybe yours is different. Hope this helps, :-) --majickmann