No can't access it without gold. Mine had run out last month I was lazy and hadn't renewed.I had to last night online to gold for access to it.
i dont think it takes flash drives.. im not sure.. i have to look into this.. but i dont play xbox enough to get live..
You can get a memory card. If you have a friend with Xbox and Live, have them DL the roster and go to Gamestop, get a used memory card, transfer the file, and return the memory card (unless you want to keep it).
There is 1 USB port in the back, 2 in the front. You just have to select where you want to load from. I haven't tried this with a game, but i did try with music files, before I got the 360 synced with my computer. In theory I don't see why it shouldn't work. I can always look at it when I get home.