Vantage Data Recovery

We get a lot of calls from people with damaged flash drives a.k.a. “thumb” drives.  Many people use them to backup important data from their laptop or desktop system, which is fine in the short run, but their very nature makes them somewhat unreliable in the long run.  The things that make them so attractive to us - they are small, lightweight and portable - make them vulnerable from a data loss standpoint.

Thumb drives consist of a small circuit board inside a lightweight plastic case, with a USB connector attached to the board at four or six points.  They are easily lost, misplaced, and damaged.  We have had clients who left them in their pockets…and found them in the washing machine, very clean, but nonfunctional.

The most common damage to a thumb drive is from the drive getting bumped while it is in your system, breaking off or loosening the USB connector.  The connector can also be damaged by removing it at an angle, or similar unkind treatment.  The moral of the story here is (obviously): be careful, and treat your thumb drive nicely.

Data loss or corruption can also occur when the drive is removed without being “stopped”.  It is important to be sure that the system has finished writing to the drive before removing it.  Use the “safely remove hardware” button in Windows, or drag the device icon to the trash on a Mac.

Finally, keep your thumb drive in a safe and secure location.  If you have sensitive data on a thumb drive be sure to encrypt it in case it does get lost.*

*Remember - while data encryption will protect your data from prying eyes, it can make data recovery (should you ever need it) more difficult.  If you encrypt, be sure to back up regularly.