A USB keydrive, shown with a US quarter coin for scale.

SneakerNet is the term used (generally with ironic intent) for transfer of electronic information (see: computer file) by physically carrying removable media (magnetic tape, floppy disks, compact discs, keydrives) from one personal computer to another. This is usually in lieu of transferring the information over a computer network due to bandwidth limitations (see: List of device bandwidths) or simply lack of a network.

It is also sometimes called tennis-net, armpit-net, floppy-net, shoe-net, walk-net, or foot-net.

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway." -- Tanenbaum, Andrew. Computer Networks. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1996. p83 (ISBN 0-13-349945-6)

Sneakernets are in practical use in high-security environments, where manual inspection (for re-classification of information) is necessary. It is not uncommon to have systems dealing with information of different classifications physically disconnected from each other, and only have data exchange occur by means of a sneakernet. On the other hand, they provide an easy way to bypass security in many situations.

Reference

• Jargon File 4.2.0