Lost in a flash but not deletedWoman recovers memory device holding only dissertation copy By Diane Knich (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Melissa Haneline Tracey Phillips reaches out to hug Daniel Island patrol officer Rickey Haynes, the officer who contacted her to let her know that an anonymous woman turned in the keys Phillips lost last month on Sullivan's Island. Phillips, a doctoral student, had the only complete copy of her dissertation on a digital memory drive on the key ring. Video
Tracey Phillips lost her key ring with a flash drive attached that had the only complete copy of her doctoral dissertation. She retrieved it on Wednesday, after an unnamed woman dropped it off after reading about Phillips' plight in a letter to the The Post and Courier. Watch » Yes, she should have backed up her data. No, it wasn't a smart move on Tracey Phillips' part to carry on her key ring a tiny digital memory device, or flash drive, that she used to store the only complete copy of her doctoral dissertation, which represented three years of work. And maybe the odds were against her getting the key ring back after she lost it late last month. But Phillips, 42, of North Charleston, who is working on her Ph.D. in counseling education through Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., remained optimistic. She had that sinking feeling when she and her boyfriend returned to the car after spending 30 minutes at the beach on Sullivan's Island April 27 and she couldn't find her keys. She knew the flash drive contained the only complete copy of her data. "I don't always do my work in one place," Phillips said. Pieces of the data were backed up on different computers, she said. But she kept the complete copy with her at all times on the key ring. Phillips said she didn't panic. She just knew that somehow, she was going to get her key ring back. "I was convinced," she said. "I said they will turn up." She assumed somebody just picked up the keys and turned them in somewhere or was holding them for her. Phillips checked with Sullivan's Island authorities but nobody had turned them in. After about five days, her boyfriend suggested the key ring might not be found, she said. But she wasn't swayed. "I'm very, very much a person of faith," she said. "Everything works out for the best even if it doesn't seem like it." Last Friday, she went back to the spot where her car was parked when she lost the key ring to take another look around. People who lived nearby suggested she get her story in a newspaper. So she wrote a letter to the editor that ran in Wednesday's edition of The Post and Courier. That morning, she got a text message from Charleston police officer Rickey Haynes asking her to stop by the Daniel Island station. A woman who didn't leave her name read the letter in the newspaper and dropped the keys at the station. Phillips rushed down to the station and sat in an office waiting for Haynes. When he walked in the door with her key ring in his had, she jumped up and hugged him. "I feel like a huge burden has been lifted," the New York native said. She said she's grateful to the people of Charleston. "If this had been New York, I never would have seen this again." Phillips said she wishes she could thank the woman who dropped off her keys. And she promises from now on to back up her data. Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 34 comment(s)
Posted by whycantitbebetterhere on May 8, 2008 at 1:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There is no way I would keep that on my key-ring. I guess she is book smart and real world not so much...
Posted by ForPnC on May 8, 2008 at 4:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm glad she got the jump drive back.
Just goes to show that you can have all the education in the world and still not have a lick of common sense. You don't carry something that important around with you. Especially if it's your only copy.
Please remember that before crossing the street to look left, right, then left again.
Posted by BulldogTLC on May 8, 2008 at 7:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I recently finished my degree and I can understand why she toted it with her. You often work on your school work on your computer at home, then on your computer at work, then on your computer at school. Your flash drive becomes something that you are never without. While you may have bits and pieces of your work saved at various places, your flash drive is the common denominator between all of these and very often contains the only complete and current copy of all of your work. I may have been able to piece most of my work back together had I lost mine, but it would have taken some work to do so. I am glad that she got it back.
Posted by sbs920 on May 8, 2008 at 7:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow!
Let's see here. . .
Going for her Phd
full disertation on only a flash drive...
no back up...
sounds like she should have minored in common sense. . .
Posted by suec on May 8, 2008 at 8:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
She had pieces of it saved in various places but the complete copy was on her flash drive.
If you are constantly making changes to somethng and working from different locations a flash drive is the only practical option.
Apparently some of you have never worked on anything beyond a 2 minute PostCourier comment.
In a perfect world she would have had a back up and I bet she does now.
How many of you have never put something off or not done something that you should have only to have it come back and bite you in the butt?
It is a good samaritan story. No need to be mean.
Posted by eyfigueroa on May 8, 2008 at 8:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
thank you suec. my sentiments exactly.
Posted by 512c on May 8, 2008 at 8:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I lost a jump drive in my front yard... one day the dog was playing with something... rusted up fobble, dongle etc...
IT still worked!!!!
I email my self all kinds of stuff. works great as a back up.
Posted by majorjohnson on May 8, 2008 at 8:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nothing at all wrong with keeping your stuff on a flash drive, but there is something wrong if that's the only complete copy of your stuff. There is no such thing as too many backups. If you lose the flash drive it may be returned, but if it's damaged or just fails (and they do fail) you're hurting.
I bet a lot of the folks saying she has no common sense have important information on their hard drives with no backup. You may not lose your hard drive at the beach but hard drives do fail, and without a backup you'd be worse off than she was since her original data was still intact on other computers. I've done data retrieval from failed hard drives for people, and I'm not nearly as cheap as a CD backup. Even more important than having a backup is keeping that backup in a separate location, or at least in a fireproof/waterproof safe.
Posted by allwoman on May 8, 2008 at 9:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
suec:
I agree with every word of your post and I second it!
Posted by DCartisan on May 8, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great advice Major. Some on this board think they are sooooo much smarter than this lady because they have all of their important work saved on their hard drive on their computer and would never put it on a flash drive. That is until their hard drive fails...
Posted by UrGatorbait on May 8, 2008 at 9:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice story and well said suec. Nice to see something besides a steady diet of doom and gloom.
I always keep a back up or two of of my papers and like 512c email myself stuff also. Just incase.
Posted by ColdBeer on May 8, 2008 at 9:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
A Flash Drive is an EXCELLENT place to "back-up" your work. You should NEVER have important documents on only one drive. Carrying a flash drive with you is common practice. It's a necessity in some cases.
Taking a flash drive to the beach does not make a whole lot of sense though. Salt and sand can't be very good for the little drive. Losing something so important out of pure carelessness is not very bright either. I would not want this woman as my doctor.
It is nice though that someone actually turned the keys in and she was able to get her data back. THAT'S the real story here. Bravo to the good Samaritan!!
Flash Drive: $18
Trip to the Beach: $25
Losing your doctoral dissertation: $100,000 worth of time, energy and money
Good Samaritan: Priceless
Posted by armymom on May 8, 2008 at 9:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
WOW!!
this is news?
Posted by Chief_SittingBull on May 8, 2008 at 9:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice story! Congratulations, Ms. Phillips and best of luck to you in achieving your academic goals.
Posted by Harpo on May 8, 2008 at 10:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Just goes to show you that college grads aren't any smarter
than the common folks are. They just jump through more
hoops than the rest of us do.
I use Acronis True Image on my PC. It images all the drives
once a month on the 30th and adds an incremental image
every Monday. All the data on my thumb drives and MP3
players are copied onto my PC, so that gets backed up
too. The images are kept on an external 500GB HDD and I
clean that up manually every month.
An image contails everything .. OS, bookmarks, files,
EMail .. the whole enchilada. Backups are old school ..
Get an external hard drive and imaging software and cover
your assets.
Posted by Weeeee on May 8, 2008 at 11:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You know Harpo....right down to the software, this is my exact process for backing up my machine. My external is 1TB though.
:)
Posted by whycantitbebetterhere on May 8, 2008 at 11:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My first and only big loss on a computer? 1988 - term paper being completed at 2 AM - day it was due in 12th grade (mom was a dear and let me stay up). I hit the wrong button and the whole thing was gone - didn't back it up. (Mom told me too, but I was too focused on writing).
I went to wake up my 16 year old brother to get him to help me - he was having a nightmare or something and punched me in the nose as I tried to shake him awake (he never did anything like this ever)! (I'm a girl by the way - MOM hollered at him for potentially disfiguring me for 20 minutes as he tried to wake up).
Had to go to the doctor - had a broken nose and two black eyes - I remember thinking as I first realized it was really gone - all 14 pages and all of my notes - "God - you are going to have to give me a really good reason to not go to school today". BOY DID HE - little bro nailed me!
I stayed home that day after I went to the doctor, rewrote my whole paper - saving it every 10 minutes, and turned it in the next day while sporting a swollen nose and two black eyes! I HAVE NEVER LOST ANYTHING ON THE COMPUTER SINCE! Sure was a hell of way to learn my lesson though - I also never stood any closer that 5 feet away from my brother while he was sleeping....... :)
Posted by isha25 on May 8, 2008 at 11:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am so glad that your keys were returned to you. I am also working on my PhD and I just began working on my dissertation so I can only imagine what you were going through. My laptop crashed when I was working on my exam and I thought I was going to die because all of my data was lost. So now I am doing online backup now as well.
Posted by suec on May 8, 2008 at 11:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think her dilema was that she used several PC at multiple locations.
Backing up the hard drives was not the answer.
Posted by geekguy2008 on May 8, 2008 at 12:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Happy ending to an awful story. Glad she got her keys back!
I applaud the citizen who turned them in....good job!
I've done similar silly things. No body's perfect.
Posted by Neponset on May 8, 2008 at 12:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have several flash sticks(?). I think it is concienent and certainly better and faster than the floppy disk or stiffy disc, but how stable are they?
Posted by SCMomof2 on May 8, 2008 at 1:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Apparently some of you have never worked on anything beyond a 2 minute PostCourier comment."
Classic.
Love it!
Posted by Neponset on May 8, 2008 at 1:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
SCM
Please educate us
Posted by BulldogTLC on May 8, 2008 at 1:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Neponset - I have one that was actually left in my pocket - got washed and dried and was absolutely fine. Guess I did a "disk cleanup" :-)
Posted by ColdBeer on May 8, 2008 at 2:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
1988? Now THAT'S an early home computer. I think my first one was in like '91.
It was a 386SX with 4 meg RAM and a 120 meg HD and a 2400 baud modem. I remember all of my computer buddies saying "That's all the computer you're going to need for a LONG time".
Posted by theronce on May 8, 2008 at 2:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
True, it wasn't the best way to handle things. I wish that I had a nickel for every lesson that I had to relearn the hard way. I find it interesting on many levels. She said that she is a person of faith and thereby could believe in a sovereign God as I do. Looks like a miracle to me.
Posted by ForPnC on May 8, 2008 at 3:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
majorjohnson -
How right you are! I'm the only person I know that has as fireproof safe.
Counting internal and external drives I have five. A bit paranoid but I feel it's necessary. One is the C drive, two are ghost images of that drive and then two more for backups of my data. Any files I change are backed up DAILY before I do anything else. About every other week I do full backups. When I'm done with a file that will never be touched again then it goes on to various other media that's stored in that
firesafe.
SueC - If it's important then I don't put it off so I don't get my butt bit. When I was in college it was myself and one other student that never gave the excuse "my computer ate it."
I also don't carry my birth certificate, social security card, etc around with me all day. I use it and put it right back.
I have time to make a "2 minute PostCourier comment" because I'm not chasing down the things that are actually important in life.
Harpo and Weeeee - I despise Acronis True Image. I wouldn't use it to image a blank piece of paper. Glad you like it though!
Boy Scout Motto-
Always be prepared.
Posted by SCMomof2 on May 8, 2008 at 3:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"SCM
Please educate us"
Not sure what you mean here.
Actually there was nothing more to my post than the comment I quoted. There was no ill-intent towards any other poster, the comment just struck me as funny. That's all.
Posted by ColdBeer on May 8, 2008 at 3:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have a fire proof safe at the house. I also have a video tape of my entire house, with all of it's contents, stored in a safe deposit box. Have you ever tried to itemize your belongings after a fire? I saw pictures of my friends house after a fire he had and I've been taping quarterly since then.
As for my safe, I always forget that I put stuff in it and I spend hours looking for it before I open the safe and find it.
Posted by ForPnC on May 8, 2008 at 4:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ColdBeer - Me too! It just takes a couple of hours to thoroughly video tape the whole house. I opened all my closets and drawers and made sure to get the garage and shed. I do it twice a year so you got me on that one!
Posted by ForPnC on May 8, 2008 at 4:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
And all my weapons too. After taping them in their normal place I lined them all up and took pictures. With serial number showing.
Posted by mrsmomofthree on May 8, 2008 at 7:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have to agree with armymom.....News??? What about when I finally found the sock to the one I couldn't match????
Posted by Harpo on May 8, 2008 at 11:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ForPnC:
We've used True Image at work for a couple years now and
it's already come through for us once for a total restoral
to a new HDD. The software works better than Norton Ghost,
IMHO.
Did you have a specific reason you don't care for it, or
do you just not like the name?
Posted by ForPnC on May 9, 2008 at 4:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Harpo -
I have to admit that the version I've used wasn't the "full" version. I've been told that version is really good but from my experience at work, I'd rather do without it.
I'm still looking for software to use and just need to get off my lazy butt. I'm using Norton right now. It works okay. All of it is designed for computer idiots but we know how idiot-proof products work... They just make a better idiot. LOL!