I use my device only for the transfer of files, but for users that read more than they will write it would be recommended to mount this device ro. These things do tend to wear out, after a couple of years of standard use, or after about six months if you use this device as a portable hard drive.

That it is definately not. Primarily it is intended to be a gigantic floppy disk, and it does so well. I keep many pdf math books on it, common programs I recommend to people, and miscelanious files I need to transfer to different computers.

It is true that the chip cannot meet the 2.0 transfer rate, but it still kicks the crap out of floppies any day.

I have had no compatability issues with linux, as the device is recognized instantly, and would highly recommend it to anyone who really hates floppies, but doesn't want to carry around anything as large (or as one time) as a cd.