Abstract: The application describes updating, by a computing system, a table to include first data usable to locate a first portion of metadata in a supplementary database that is accessible from a storage device. The metadata is related to one or more functions of an application that execute on the computing system. The table also includes second data usable to locate a second portion of the metadata in a system database of the computing system. During execution of the application, a request for one or more portions of the metadata is received, and the table is used to determine one or more locations of the one or more portions of the metadata of the request. In response to the request, at least one of the first portion of the metadata is read from the supplementary database or the second portion of the metadata is read from the system database.

Abstract: A portable storage device includes an interface and one or more flash memories. The one or more flash memories store one or more executable files that can be executed by a host computer to which the device is coupled without altering any environment settings on the host computer even though the one or more executable files include instructions to access environment settings. Additionally, the application is bound to the portable storage device during an activation process.