Pay attention, everyone -
You should never have the only copy of your important files be stored on your flash drive. It will die (or be lost or be stolen). If this is the case, you may be completely out of luck.
I had a friend give me a flash drive this past weekend. The flash drive is not recognized by any computer. Where there normally is a light that comes on when plugged in, now there is no longer a light.
If the problem is more that just a poor USB connector, then it will be pretty costly to recover the data, if it is possible at all… Usually the cost will outweigh the benefit of recovered files.
So, use the flash drive only as a working and portable storage device. Make sure they are encrypted. Copy the files back to your computer if they are important. That way they will be a part of your normal backups. (You do have a backup system, right?)
If you don’t have a backup system in place, consider using something like LockYourData (www.lockyourdata.com). It allows you to manage both online and local backups as well as keeping multiple generations of files.
The last thing you want to hear is the words of Dr. McCoy as he looks up and says, “He’s dead, Jim.”
- Dan
