I know we have some computer gurus here, and I am not one of them.

I am a multi-instrumentalist/vocalist who knows how to use the computers, but not all the 'nuts and bolts'.

Here is my situation:

When gigging, I use two ThinkPad computers:
  • The first one plays 192k MP3 backing tracks on Windows Media Player that I make at home
  • The second one displays either rtf or tif files. They are either lyrics or a head chart. We have well over 600 songs and I haven't memorized them all. I can use the built-in MS apps but I like IrfanView.

I also keep identical data on a USB flash drive. I belong to the Department of Redundancy Department. laugh

I could do both tasks on the same computer, but having two up and running with identical mp3, rtf, and tif data on them, gives me the insurance that if one craps out, the show goes on.

Since 2002, I've had two incidences. The first time, the CMOS battery died and I didn't know I could still boot the computer. The second time, the hard drive started making a mechanical noise.

In both cases, I moved the USB cable to the other computer, and the show went on with no delay.

My stage ThinkPad computers are old, one is XP and the other is Win7. They are a bit slow, but work fine. However, we have been playing in really dark places and I'd like a back-lit keyboard. Plus, newer computers are much lighter.

We're gigging 18 or so days per month, all one-nighters. I've been making backing tracks for newly learned songs in my studio, saving the data on a USB flash drive, and loading the data on both computers on the gig.

Sometimes when time is short, it's a bit of a PITA to transfer the files to both computers. We leave an extra half-hour for setup, but if a cable craps out, or some other troubleshooting problem arises, time to load data gets short.

So here is my idea. Why not always run the files off the flash drive instead of the HD?

I could make my tracks and lyrics sheets at home, copy to 3 flash drives, and on the gig, instead of running them from the computer's HD, run them directly from the flash drive?

My question to the gurus is this: Are there any problems with running from a flash drive all night, every night? If so, what are the negatives?

Thanks,
Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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