When using portable methods of data storage such as USB flash drives and external hard drives you have to be extra careful to protect your data from loss or theft. At the least you might be inconvenienced by the loss of your data or perhaps a little embarrassed if, for instance, someone using e-mail addresses to spam your friends and work contacts. At worst you could end up suffering huge financial loss if it helps someone steal you identity and empty out your bank accounts. Don’t dismiss this. Millions of people are falling victim to data theft and identity theft every year, so you really want to do whatever it takes to reduce the risk.
The first step to do is to ensure that you always safely back up essential data that is on your external hard drives and flash drives. Exactly how you do that may depend on the nature of the data. Big files such as photos and videos take up a lot of space. I routinely back those up to a separate hard drive at home so I always have two copies. It is not completely safe since a fire or flood could destroy both at once, but at least I don’t run the risk of losing everything because of a hard drive failure. When it comes to smaller files such as essential contacts and important documents I need for current work projects, I back those up to the cloud. There are plenty of ways you can do this, many of them for free. You can for instance upload documents to Google Docs for free. There are other options too, such as SugarSync. Microsoft also has some cloud storage that you can use for free. It doesn’t really matter which you choose, just be sure to use something so that you can still access essential data if your flash drive or external drive is lost.
The next big issue to consider is securing your data. Often you don’t have to think CIA level security here. For most people who just want to protect their privacy and personal data from the average opportunist then the ordinary password lock on U3 drives should be fine. If you have more sensitive information or carry corporate information then you will want to go for some sort of corporate grade security solution. Whichever you choose, make sure you lock your disk down.
