I want to use my iphone as a storage device - any tips?

Question

Hello
I have files which i need to take to work tomorrow on my computer at home.  I don't have a USB flash drive and wish to use my iPhone 3GS to achieve this simple task.  What I have in mind is allocating, say, 4GB of space to store files on and being able to read them just like a normal USB when i plug it into a computer.
I cannot anywhere on the apple site find instructions to do this (closest I get is doing this with an iPod).
I googled this and read a rumour that apple effectively dissallows this - if this is true, what possible benefit could this have?
Any advice would be great!

Answer 1

StinkyPete wrote:
Be good if Apple could add this so it is native to the system - a function which i really need! (wireless and dropbox style transfer doesn't suit me at all).
Part of the problem is a quirk in the way the Mac handles volumes. You have to manually dismount them or OS X complains about possible disk catalog damage. Older iPods, like my original iPod shuffle, do have the ability to have space set aside for disk use and I used to have mine set up that way before USB sticks got so much bigger that I started transferring data on those instead. But the tradeoff is that if you set up that iPod to be used as a disk, you must manually dismount it before disconnecting the USB cable. Apple seems to have decided that customers would like the convenience of being able to disconnect an iPhone at any time with no extra steps, but this requires disabling the disk access feature.
I think that is not the only reason, though. As above I think that Apple wants to discourage alternate ways of getting software onto the iPhone, as a security measure. But the file system is not really "secured and non-accessible" as there are plenty of apps out there that will let you access it. In the end what Apple is doing is a little confusing to a lot of people.
Some people are wondering if a USB flash drive would be cheaper. Sure, it would be. But that is not the point. I understand that it's a hassle to carry around One More Device. That's why we take pictures with iPhones instead of bringing a point-and-shoot, because after a while our pockets start feeling heavy. At least a flash drive is small. But on the other hand I'm always forgetting which room I left it in. I always know where my iPhone is...