ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > September > 26
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Flashes of angst!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Recent developments allow us to carry our minds and most of our lives around on USB flash drives, those neat little thumb size thingies that hold so much data.
First they only held megabytes, now they’re up in the gigabytes with no end in sight. Miniaturization has gone wild hasn’t it? How many of you carry your life around in this small piece of plastic and chips? Isn’t it great? I can’t even begin to fathom what’s in the thing but when I plug it in, there’s all my data!
On the down side, have you ever lost one? These things are so small but carry so much data. If you have ever lost one, you know the sinking feeling that happens when you realize what is gone. I lost one recently and although I had backed up everything, whoever finds it, will see some interesting things on it including some work documents that are confidential to my job.
How do you replace months of work? What happens to the sensitive information from your company ends up in a taxi, on a plane or in an internet cafe on the other side of the country or world? Surely people will make an effort to return it to the rightful owner - not.
I’m still trying to find a way to keep my data safe and I know there are other ways to access my data remotely, but I still love my flash drive. My latest strategy is to put it on my key chain. Not having gotten used to this, I have locked my keys in my office when I left the zip plugged into the computer and ran out the door to a meeting. Worse yet, is when I use another set of keys and my data is left at home.
Help! I need some advice. What are some of your horror stories? How have you overcome the loss of your Flash drive?
As I save this entry on my flash drive, please tell me how to keep it with me without inconveniencing myself any further!
