I’ve been doing some design work using a specialized CAD program. Usually, I keep the files on my hard disk and transfer them to a flash drive when I go to the office to turn-in my work.
A new software version was released that (naturally) is file incompatable with the previous versions. So, to try it out, I installed the new program on a second computer and saved my work to a San Disk 256mb Flash Drive. As usual, I removed the drive from the USB port each session to keep it in a safe place.
This morning I was going to add some finishing touches to a set of drawings I had been working on for the last day or so, but the computer failed to read the drive. A call to San Disk referred me to a company that makes special reader programs used to retreive data from flash drives. They sent me two free (demo) programs, but neither was successful in reading the drive.
San Disk will replace the drive but it may take 4-5 weeks, so I’m out to the store tonight for another.
Lesson learned. No storage device is truly secure.
One of the things I do before leaving a school computer is email myself any files that I have been working on. It’s a quick way to get myself an extra copy that is accessible anywhere.
I had a Secure Digital format memory card, I think it was by Sandisk. My new (and subsequently returned) Dell computer fried it last year. SanDisk was great, even though I had bought it from a third party company, they sent me out a new card under their warranty. They said I’d get it within a month but it was actually about 8 days.
Flying, I thought about storing files on my website rather than my e-mail server. I’ll probably burn them to CD for now and get another flash drive tonight.
