Free Flash Drives Received

In the past, I've written about receiving free USB flash drives at various conferences that I've attended. I have been searching the Internet to see if I could also find websites that offer USB flash drives freebies. For reference, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash drive is a portable computer memory that plugs into a computer USB port and can be used like a miniature hard disk. Also known as thumb drives, they were once considered a novelty among computer enthusiasts. But nowadays, USB flash drives can often be purchased in many locations, including drug and discount stores.

In my post about fake USB flash drives, I mentioned finding a few websites that claim to offer USB flash drive freebies. But in most cases, the websites were outdated, or that particular offer has expired. I didn't want to send my readers on a wild goose chase, so I haven't published any of those unconfirmed offers.

Now, I am happy to report that I have received a couple of free USB flash drive from legitimate offers. And, I want to share this information with my readers. The first flash drive I received is from MicroCenter. You can get one for signing up for their CENTERewards program. A link to their offer is here:

http://www.microcenter.com/images/at_the_stores/rewards.program/rewards.052709.pdf

This offer is for a 4GB Micro Center Flash Drive or a 4GB SD (SDHC) memory card. Although the form is available online, you have to actually go to a Micro Center store to claim the flash drive. So, that might not work out for everybody. I have received the actual drive, and can confirm that it is of good quality.


When I went to Micro Center to pick up my flash drive, they happened to be out of their own brand of 4Gb flash drives. They substituted this Kingston DataTraveler 4 GB USB Flash Drive instead.

I received my second flash drive by requesting program information from Columbia College. This college offers online course and have several campuses throughout the United States. I requested the flash drive through this link:

http://www.ccis.edu/offices/marketing/landing_pages/more/

It took a long while to receive my flash drive; I requested this drive in March 2010, and received it in June. When I first heard about the offer, I noticed that the page above didn't have any mention of the free flash drive. However, I did receive this Email in early March that confirmed a flash drive would be on its way:

Congratulations on taking the first step toward getting more out of your life! Soon you will receive a USB flash drive that is preloaded with a viewbook detailing what Columbia College offers, including testimonials from current students and alumni. So keep an eye on your mailbox for a package from us.

Then in late May, I got another Email saying:

We just wanted to let you know to keep an eye on your mailbox for the information you requested a few weeks ago from Columbia College. As promised, you’ll be receiving a free USB flash drive that is preloaded with the Columbia College viewbook. We apologize for the delay, but there was an overwhelming response — apparently, you are not alone in your desire to get more out of life.

After about three months, I finally received my drive in early June. In my post, about promotional USB flash drives, I mentioned a type of drive that shows up as two different drives when you plug it into a computer. One of the partitions on the Columbia College flash drive is identified by the computer as a CD ROM drive, and it contains an Autorun script that loads the Columbia college viewbook, which is a PDF file that gives an overview of their programs. The second partition looks and behaves like a regular USB flash drive. The total capacity of the the drive is 2GB.

So, these are two legitimate free USB drive offers. Does anybody else know of any other free USB offers? Can anybody report on the successes (or failures) that they've had?

DC