Is it a portable DVD drive, or is it a 32GB thumb drive? As a matter of fact it’s both: the Isostick, which is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, is basically a memory stick that automatically converts ISO images into physical, mounted optical drives — or at least as far as the host computer is concerned. This all happens so transparently that you can put an image of Ubuntu or Windows on an Isostick, restart your computer, and boot from it; as far as your computer is concerned, it’s an optical drive.

Does it sound too good to be true? Well, it gets better: you can put as many ISOs as you like on an Isostick and a built-in bootloader lets you select which ISO to boot from — and with 32GB of space, you can keep images of just about every operating system on a single Isostick. There’s also a hardware read-only switch, which you can flip if you want to remove any chance of viruses meddling with your images — and there’s a configurable activity LED that you can alter the brightness of, or disable entirely.

Hardware-wise, the Isostick is basically a MicroSD card (non-removable) that’s capable of 12.5MB/sec read (81x and 9.5x in CD/DVD parlance) and 4-6MB/sec write. By default the drive will only boot from ISOs (and only ISOs — not BIN, DMG, or NRG) stored on a FAT32 partition, but future firmware updates may remove those restrictions. You can also create a separate NTFS or UFS (or whatever) partition to store data on, as long as you keep a FAT32 partition for the ISOs. Finally, the firmware — the clever bit that actually converts ISOs into virtual drives — will be open-sourced when Isostick production finishes (though that might never happen).

There are caveats, of course: Isostick isn’t cheap — it’ll cost around around $100 for an 8GB stick, $175 for a 16GB stick, and $225 for the big daddy 32GB drive. The other problem is that Isostick only exists as a beta product seeking funding on Kickstarter — but given the fact that it’s already half-funded and has 25 days to go, it shouldn’t have a problem meeting its target. If you jump in and invest in the project today, you should be holding your very own Isostick in about 10 weeks.

If you’re an IT technician, power user, or administrator, you’re probably drooling at the prospect of dropping every utility and operating system on a single thumb drive, and never laying your eyes on a CD or DVD ever again. Imagine never having to leaf through the huge wallet of discs… only to discover that the disc you need is scratched. Imagine never having to perform that frantic, sweaty hunt for your Windows or OS X disc when your computer refuses to boot. Best of all, though, imagine the warm feeling that you’ll get by backing an excellent idea and helping a new company get off the ground.

Read more at Isostick’s website or invest with Kickstarter