Flash drive etiquette

[NyaChan]

That still doesn't make sense - If I lend you a pen, I don't think I have to make it clear that I want it back.  How do you take something from someone that is reusable and non-perishable and automatically assume you get to keep it?

[HorseFreak]

I wonder if these non-tech-savvy people are equating a flash drive to a floppy disk or CD? Those were extremely disposable and very cheap. I always make sure to get my flash drives back and it hasn't been a problem with anyone expecting to keep it. I did have a problem once with it being returned with a virus from someone who hadn't a clue about protecting their computer and downloaded every piece of spyware they could find.

[VorFemme]

I remember my mother forgetting a flash drive here a while back - 256MB and she'd gotten it "free" with some computer magazine's name on it.  She had the information on a CD and told me to just wipe the flash drive as it wasn't large enough to be useful much longer. The genealogical data file she had on it was 95% of the drive and she'd just updated the file at home with additional family tree information - it was now too large for that drive.

I saved the "set up your network password" information to it and set it aside, as it was perfect for that - not much room for other files so nobody "borrowed" it and wiped it trying to get everything on it.  When I sold a computer, I bundled it with that flash drive and moved the "set up your network password" file to a 512MB flash drive. 

We do have one flash drive with the Geek Squad logo on it, but at 8GB, it has room enough for a LOT of information!

I still think having your name on the drive itself (not as a file inside it) is a way to remind people that you might want it back....or at least be able to track it if you leave it with Ada who hands it off to Bob, who thinks that left it with Charles, who is sure that Dana has it now....but Ed might have picked it off her desk to use when Frank had some information on HIS computer (next cubical) that he needed to copy & take back to his work area......and......at least if it says "EHellion" on it you can prove it is YOURS.  Or perhaps a pair of red rhinestone lips would get the point across........

[RebeccainGA]

In personal situations, I'm all about returning the drive. I have few of my own, and use them frequently enough that losing them would be difficult at best.

I guess maybe it's a corporate culture thing - we have them around like they are those interoffice memo envelopes. I get one, with data from a colleague, and just keep it until I need to send data off to someone. Not getting it back is almost expected.

[Bluenomi]

You always give them back. Those things can be hard to find when you need them. I have a few secret ones in my desk at work for situtations we need them but only a few people know about them otherwised they'd get lost.

As for needing to send files around work, we have a shared drive on the network, so much easier than sending flash drives snail mail!

[thedudeabides]

Copy and return.  Doing otherwise is theft.

[MsOverThinker]

Unless your workplace is supplying them to be passed around (akin to file folders and interoffice envelopes), always give it back!  I keep one around the office for personal convenience (carrying presentations to places that may not access our network, copying files that a client may not want to go through unsecured email or that is too big to send) and if I lost it, I'd have to buy another one.  Why would anyone assume you wouldn't want it back?  All I can think is that the PP who said some people don't understand the value or from places that hand them out, I guess.

[Sign Of The Times]

When in doubt, return it. Only exception that I can fathom is that it was given during a promotional event.