Here’s a simple trick for helping your thumb drive finds its way home if you lose it or leave it in someone else’s computer: Keep a text file with your name and contact information on the thumb drive.

Here are the steps:

1. If you’re on a PC, open Notepad, which comes packaged with Windows. If you’re on a Mac, use TextEdit, which comes packaged with Leopard.
2. Type your name and any contact information you want to provide. Keep in mind that you don’t know who might see this and consider the risk of giving someone unknown your home address.
3. Save the file with the name “If found return to,” or if-found-return-to.txt.
4. Copy the new file to your thumb drive.

Done!

You could also use a fine-point Sharpie marker to write contact info on the exterior of the thumb drive.

And, if you’re worried about a lost flash drive leaving important information exposed, as a mediator might do well to consider, encrypt the drive’s contents. Just don’t encrypt your contact information file if you want to give a good Samaritan the chance to return it to you.

Making Mediation Your Day Job by Tammy Lenski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at MediatorTech.com.