With a USB drive, some people may not realize that there is more than you can do with a portable drive than plainly moving/copying files on and off of the drive.  When you are using a USB drive from one computer to another, people tend to get lost figuring out which files are newly updated and which are older.  With powerful software, you can carry more than just your files, you can carry your email as well.  Let me introduce you to two products that do just that: PowerhouseSoft's Migo and Imaginelan's P.I. Protector.  Both products are software that are designed to allow you to carry your Outlook email and be able to send and receive mail within in.  With the file synchronization capabilities in these products, you can also ensure that the files you are working with are the same no matter what computer you use.
 

Let's start off with Imaginelan's P.I. Protector Mobility Suite 4.0.  P.I. Protector is a simple software that allows you carry your Outlook email, surf the Internet, and synchronize your files in a relatively simple solution.  I will explain how each of these works.  I have included quite a few screenshots of the program since a trial or evaluation version is not offered at all.

I was provided with a simple executable setup file and a registration code.  Installation involves running the executable file and telling it which drive letter your USB drive is located.  The setup file will install the necessary files on your USB drive and will prompt you for the registration code.  Once everything is installed, you will need to locate the PI Protector program executable and run it.

When you insert your USB drive, the main toolbox window will pop-up.  The window presents you with a simple interface.  You can choose to surf the Internet using Internet Explorer, use your email with Outlook, or synchronize your files.  What is very helpful is that it shows the disk usage at the bottom.  As you can see, I have used up nearly all my space on my 512MB USB drive since I have tons of Outlook email.
 

It is assumed that currently use Outlook on your current computer.  In order to be able to access your Outlook email on another computer, you will need to prepare it.  First, you click the settings button at the upper left hand corner of the main window.  The settings window will then pop up allowing you to change the behavior of how certain functions are managed.  Next, you will want to click the 'Modify Email Settings' button.

The important part in this window is deciding whether you want to use Outlook or Outlook Express.  Whatever computer you use, it must have the email program you choose.  P.I. Protector is compatible with Outlook 2000 or greater.  If you are a corporate user, it is even compatible with Exchange 2002 or greater.  If the computer you plan to use has Outlook already, I would recommend choosing that.  By default nature, Outlook has advanced capabilities such as being able to store and manage your Contacts and Calendar.  On the other hand, Outlook Express is slightly more available because it comes built-in with Windows XP.  If you wish, you can also choose to password protect your email so that a password is required to access your email.  Do not forget the password because there is now way of recovering it.
 

Once you have decided on the Outlook version you want to use, it's now time to copy your current email to your USB drive.  The software should automatically detect your current Outlook profiles on your computer.   Even though the option is grayed out, you would want to choose the 'Copy Outlook Profile to Portable Device' option.  The software will then copy all your emails to your USB drive and may take several minutes depending on the number and size of emails you have.

There is also an option where you can merge the profile from the USB Drive to your computer.  This is where we start seeing the limitations of the product.  When you start sending and receiving email from your USB drive, your USB drive will contain your new or updated emails.  What happens if you use Outlook on both your USB drive and your computer?  You will have new emails on one device that the other doesn't have and vice-versa.  Unfortunately, the software is only capable of merging your emails from your USB drive to your computer.  That means it will take much more of a hassle to bring your new emails from your computer to the USB drive.  You would have to first merge and then recopy the profile to your USB drive.  Therefore, it is better if you solely access your emails from the USB Drive.  Even if you are on your home computer, insert your USB and use your email from there.

Another feature with P.I. Protector is that you are able to surf the Internet in privacy using Internet Explorer.  You just select the Internet Explorer icon in the main P.I. Protector window and Internet Explorer will start up.  An icon of a detective wearing a hat will show up in your system tray at the bottom right of the screen.  This indicates that P.I. Protector is running in the background.  What makes surfing the Internet through the software different is that you are able to surf the web in privacy.  All the cookies, history, temporary internet files, and favorites are all stored on your USB drive.  Whenever you are done, you simply close the P.I. Protector main window and then you can just leave as if you've never used the computer.  If you have a long list of important Favorites, it might be beneficial in being able to access your Favorites on a different computer.

Because the temporary Internet files are being stored to your USB drive, webpages did load slightly slower because the transfer rate is slower on a USB drive than an actual hard drive.  Although it was noticeable at first, it did not hinder being able to look at websites.

If you have files which you need to be consistently updated, then you can make use of the Synchronization feature.  Synchronization allows you to do do a direct transfer both ways from the computer to your USB drive unlike the email feature.  You can modify what you want to synchronize through some simple, yet powerful options.  You select which folders you want synchronized.  You can also select whether you want to include subfolders and even how old the file is.  Taking it another step, you can also choose what type of files you want to include or exclude in the synchronization.

Next, we move onto another product that is somewhat similar in functionality, but takes a different approach.  It is PowerHouse Technologies Group's Migo Professional.  Migo is offered in two flavors: a Personal version and a Professional version.  The only difference between the Personal and Professional versions is that the Professional version supports Exchange email accounts, which are used in corporate settings.  The Personal version will do just fine if you are just using it at home for personal use.

In order to install the product, I placed the executable setup file on my USB drive.  Then I double-clicked the file to start the installation.  The program automatically installs the necessary files needed to run the software.  Another executable will be placed on your USB drive which will be used to run Migo.

When you run Migo for the first time, you will be prompted to enter in your License key.  If you don't have one, you can proceed using the Trial version.  Yes, a trial version is available to use on their website.
 

When you run the program, an icon is placed in your system tray. 
 

Migo works well in conjunction with a host computer.  The host computer is your primary computer where your emails are stored; usually it is your home computer.  You are quickly brought a synchornization window.  This is slightly different from P.I. Protector because it synchronizes your files, email, and internet browser files all at once.  Although you are able to select the boxes of which you want to synchronize, you can tell it to be more specific by pressing the 'More Options' button.
 

In the Options window, you have the ability to change what specific items you want to synchronize for Outlook email and general files.  For Outlook email, you can select individual folders ranging from contacts, calendar, and notes as well as individual folders of your Inbox.  For each specific item, you can synchronize back a certain number of days and be able to choose how a conflict should be resolved between your USB drive and your computer.  Again these settings can be changed individually for each item or folder.

The same is true for general file synchronization except you have the ability to include specific files and folders and even the file types.  You can also choose to include sub-directories or not.  Because you have all these options to choose from, it is quite a powerful and flexible tool when synchronizing.

As for Internet files, you are limited in choice.  You can either allow the cookies, history, Favorites, and homepage stored to your USB drive or not.
 

What makes Migo unique is the ability to have more than one user profile.  When you want to synchronize your files with a computer.  It will give the profile a name.  When I plugged in my USB drive into the computer and ran the Migo application, it quickly unpacked some files and then was ready.   A pull down tab at the top of the screen was available to access my files.  When clicking on the profile icon, the desktop was immediately changed as if it were a new desktop.  The background looked just like my original host computer.  What I did notice was that the current computer was not affected.  The programs that were running in the background were still working while using the profile.  I was able to look at my Outlook email just by opening Outlook.  It did ask me for my email account passwords when I wanted to send or receive email.  The Migo's ability to have multiple profiles on a USB device is very useful if you happen to use data off of two or more computers.

You can also open up Internet Explorer and it will not leave a trace once you leave the workstation.

Both P.I. Protector and Migo manage to do as they are intended: to bring your files and email with you and be able to surf the Internet in privacy.  P.I. Protector retails for $30, but is currently on sale for $20.  Migo Personal retails for $39.95 and the Professional edition retails for $59.95.  I would recommend Migo if you absolutely need to have files synchronized with two computers.  If you need something that'll get the job done at a low price, P.I. Protector would be the choice.  In addition, choosing the right product for you will depend on how you will use your host computer in conjunction with the files on your USB drive.  If you prefer to just have a copy of your stuff on your USB drive, then P.I. Protector is the choice.  If you want it to be easy to be able to keep your emails synchronized well with your host computer, then Migo would be a better choice.

Reviewed by ronald@digitalreviews.net