I shudder at the thought of losing my USB drive. As you could tell from my Zen and the Art of the USB Drive Series, my entire life is on that USB drive. “So,” I thought, “what could I do to help ensure that I get my lost USB drive back?” After some consideration, I came up with a few ideas.
Hello, My Name Is USB Drive
The very first thing that I thought of was to put a luggage tag on my drive. This seemed like a pretty good idea on the surface since pretty much every single USB drive comes with a lanyard and/or keychain attached to it. Why not put on a luggage tag in it’s place?
Unfortunately, the luggage tag was too bulky and took away from the convenience of the drive. I then put label with my name and address on the drive but there was so little space on it that it was hard to get my entire message on the drive. There had to be a better way.
Use The Tools At Your Disposal
I then got thinking that the USB drive has a lot of storage space. I could easily fit an entire novel on the drive. A “Send Me Home” message should be simple.
I figured that if I created a text file with instructions on how to return the drive on the drive root, the finder would probably be able to open it and read the instructions.
But what do you call the file? “Readme.txt”, “Help! I’m Lost!.txt”, and “Reward If Found.txt” all came to mind but there was nothing that really grabbed your eye. People often gloss over and ignore text files.
Hey! Over Here! Look at Me!
I figured I needed to do something to catch the finder’s attention. Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. I fired up SciTe and came up with two files that promised to not be missed.
The first file is an AutoIt script that I later compiled into an executable. The script was relatively simple and just provided instructions for how to get the USB drive back to me along with an incentive. The script is below.
#NoTrayIcon Dim $Message1 Dim $Message2 Dim $Message3 Dim $Message4 Dim $Title $Title = "Help! I'm Lost!" $Message1 = "I've been lost and my owner would love to get my data back." $Message2 = "Please return me to:" $Message3 = "Tim Fehlman, 3077 Fallon Drive, Mount Forest, ON N0G 2L2" $Message4 = "Your will receive a shiny new USB drive twice as big as this one for your trouble." $Message5 = "Thanks for your honesty in advance. - Tim" MsgBox(266304,$Title,$Message1 & @CRLF & $Message2 & @CRLF & $Message3 & @CRLF & $Message4 & @CRLF & $Message5)
Download this code: Help!.au3
The second file was an autorun.inf file. If you have done some work with CD’s, you may be familiar with this file. It essentially tells the computer what to do when the USB drive is put into the system or if someone double clicks or right clicks on the drive icon.
I created the following autorun.inf file.
[autorun] icon=Help!.exe open=Help!.exe action=Help! I'm Lost! label=Help! I'm Lost! shell\open\command=Help!.exe shell\open=Help! I'm Lost!
Download this code: autorun.inf
The End Results
When you plug the drive in, you get an AutoPlay window which looks like this:
When you click on the OK button, you see a message like this:
You will also see this message if you double click on the drive in My Computer. The USB drive looks like this in My Computer:
If you right click on the drive, you will get a context menu that has the following at the top:
Now, there is no getting away from the “Send me home!” message.
Feel free to grab the files from this page, edit and compile them to suit your needs, and then put them into your own USB drive. With a little luck, this will help you to get your lost drive back.
***Update***
I have had a number of technical questions asked about how to do this. Since it is obviously more technical than it needs to be, I have put together a small download and some instructions.
Simply download LostDrive.zip and extract the contents to the root of your USB drive. Then edit the readme.txt file to say whatever you want. Save the file and you are done!
***Update 2***
I had a number of people indicate that it would be kind of cool if there was a graphical version of this program. It took some time but it is done. Check out USB Drive Splash Screen for all the details.
If you found this post useful, why don't you buy me a cup of coffee to show your gratitude?
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November 30th, 1999 at 12:00 am
m Lost is clicked. When someone finds your flash drive they will plug it in, see the message with your email and (hopefully!) return it to you. (make sure to check out the screenshots at the top of this post) Have Your Lost USB Drive Ask For Help [via DCoT] Read my post about keeping Daily Cup of Tech alive, visit DCoT now! – update: once again I forgot to moderate my blog comments… I’m writing a note to myself right now
November 30th, 1999 at 12:00 am
m Lost is clicked. When someone finds your flash drive they will plug it in, see the message with your email and (hopefully!) return it to you. (make sure to check out the screenshots at the top of this post) Have Your Lost USB Drive Ask For Help [via DCoT] Read my post about keeping Daily Cup of Tech alive, visit DCoT now! – update: once again I forgot to moderate my blog comments… I’m writing a note to myself right now
October 18th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
…does this work even if you have a bootable OS (say, a build of Linux Puppy) on your USB?
October 18th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
I can’t say that I have tried that but I would think that it would depend on the filesystem that the bootable OS uses.
I do know that it will work if you use the BartPE bootable USB system since the filesystem is recognized by Windows. But, if the filesystem is not recognizable by Windows, I believe you would get an unreadable filesystem error and you will probably be prompted to format the drive (Don’t do that:)).
I guess a potential (read “I haven’t tried this so don’t quote me on it) solution is if you had the Windows ext2 file system driver installed. (Check out EXT2IFS, Ext2fsd and Ext2 IFS.) These may allow this to work.
Hmmm…I guess I have some testing to do!
October 19th, 2006 at 2:03 am
So wait… slow down for us who arent as smart as you but think this is the coolest idea ever… how do I make those files exactly and do i just put them on the drive or what?
October 19th, 2006 at 9:30 am
First of all, a quick apology to everyone out there. I had the wrong graphic in place under “The USB drive looks like this in My Computer:” It is now fixed.
Now, to Collin McD’s question. Unfortunately, I may not have been as clear as I should have been in the article. Here are the steps you need to follow in order to perform this on your USB drive:
For those of you who find the whole compiling thing a bit much to handle, I am working on a little project that may eliminate this part of he process.
Hope that answered your question, Collin McD. If not, feel free to post another comment.
October 19th, 2006 at 10:58 am
Actually, AutoIt has been surpased by AutoHotKey http://www.autohotkey.com/
If you download it, you’ll find it even more cool, that autoit… plus it will handle the same scripts.
Cheers,
Steve
October 19th, 2006 at 11:09 am
You should include the message in a text file as well. If I found your drive (I run linux), I wouldn’t be able to find your address. I’d just be looking at an .exe file named ReturnMe.exe with no way to figure out how to do so :(. It would also help OSX users.
October 19th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
1. I agree with the comment about having a text file with your address as well. I personally disable ALL autorun options when I am using windows, and would be very concerned about running some executable on some USB drive I found. (everyone should be concerned about that).
2. I can’t believe you published your mailing address on your website. I do hope that it is a fake address.
October 19th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
What you could do is have the autorun.ini launch IE and go to http://www.example.com/lostnfound.cgi which logs where the drive is coming from, computer name and other such information while also displaying the above message in the browser.
October 19th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
For cross-platform, wouldn’t it be prudent to have a non-Windows-only method of telling people to return the device?
Personally, I plan to write up an XHTML file with details on how to contact me for its safe return. In Windows, adding the XHTML file as the autorun element should launch the user’s default browser. OS’s that will also honor autorun.inf should do the same, right?
October 19th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
THANKS SOOO MUCH!
MUCH PROPS!
jus a kid on the internet here, but this helps alot.
.ico would be appreciated. i like your icon more.
it saves me from either usin fotoshop to copy urs, or to searchin windows to see if its already there.
ill use a windows one for now, but urs would be apprecaited!
October 19th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
I really like this. Seems like a good thing to have on every USB drive. Just as a sidenote, your from Mount Forest? I find that interesting because so am I.
Have a good day.
October 19th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
i would just think its a virus and not click it =P
very common name for a virus to be.
October 19th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
or two of gadgets that have misplaced power adapters (why is it so out of line for companies to label AC transformers? it doesn’t really cost much more, and it’s such a nice touch), but for the most part, I have a controlled mess. But when I read an article today on how to place a “warning” on a USB drive
October 19th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
That’s a nice lovely script to have. Who knows it may really come in handy one day.
October 19th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Good evening, everyone. Today has been a day of complete insanity and it looks like its not over just yet but I wanted to respond to all of the different comments that are on this page. So, lets start at the top and work our way down…
Steve:
I’ve heard about AutoHotkey but I haven’t really given it an honest look. I have a glance at it about a year ago and it looks like an offshoot of AutoIt. I will have to spend some time on it.
Adam:
Putting the message in a text file is a good idea. Such a good idea that in the update I put on the page, I have actually incorporated that idea into an updated version of the script that is precompiled. Thanks for the idea.
edward scott:
Good point about the executable. But, when you put the stick into the USB drive and even if you have autorun disabled on your system, when you double click on the USB drive, it will still automatically execute the file.
And thanks for making a very good point. Never put your personal information on the Internet. For those of you who are unaware, Tim Fehlman is a pseudonym that I use. I would never be foolish enough to put that type of info on my webpage or anywhere else on the Internet.
Munir Nassar:
Excellent idea about going to a webpage. This is very easy to do by simply modifying the autorun.inf file on the USB drive. Read USB Drive AutoRun.inf Tweaking for a complete description on how to do this and other tricks with your USB drive.
ian douglas:
Excellent point about the non-Windows systems. Obviously this is not a perfect solution. As for how non-Windows applications deal with autorun.inf files, OS X simply ignores the file and opens the drive. The executable is useless. Same goes for Linux.
Ryan Bahr
Thans for the kind words. It doesn’t matter if you are a kid or a seasoned pro, there is something we can learn from each other. Rather than giving you my icon, how about I give you a website where you can download all kinds of really good icons instead (”Teach a man to fish…”, etc., etc.)? Check out the free for personal use icons at IconFactory.
TJ:
As I said before, the “personal” information you will find about me on this website is all fictional. The fact that “Tim Fehlman” is from Mount Forest is a complete coincidence. Sorry.
bear:
I have always preached that computers and software are amoral; i.e. they are neither good nor bad. It is how we choose to use them that have moral consequences.
I would probably agree that I would be very cautious about such a program on a drive that I found.
Keith:
Thanks for the kind words.
Thanks to everyone for all the comments and I apologize for taking so long to get to them. I understand that there are a number of comments on other sites that link back to here such as Digg and Fark but I’m probably going to stay out of these comments for the time being. Anyone who commented on those sights who would like a response from me is more than welcome to cut and paste your comment here.
Thanks again for everything!
Tim
October 20th, 2006 at 1:26 am
Hello,
We have Toshiba Flash Pen drive 2 GB and 4 GB and our OS is WIN98SE. We are not able to get driver software for it. The Toshiba site provides the USB WIN98SE dirver upto 512 MB and is not working with these pen drives. Can any body help us in getting these drives work. Thanks.
October 20th, 2006 at 2:39 am
I am having a problem after the autorun runs. If I go from my computer and just click on my F: drive, which is my flash drive, it only opens the exe file and doesn’t allow me to open the drive and explorer it per se. I still want to be able to look at the files on it, but yet have the exe run. Do you know what coding needs to be changed in the autorun file… Also, I would like to have the right click pop up still have the exe file as an option. Does this make sense and can it be done? Thanks!
October 20th, 2006 at 10:04 am
Nitin,
Sorry to say this but you may very well be out of luck. With Microsoft no longer supporting Windows 98, many manufacturers have also started to no longer write drivers for that operating system. I know that the forced obsolescense is a real pain but I guess everyone has to draw a line somewhere.
The upside (if you can call it that) is that you may be able to get a free upgrade to Vista if you buy soon. I know. It’s kinda expensive just to get your USB drive to work.
Tim
October 20th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Bob,
If you right click on your USB drive, you should still have the option to explore the drive. This will let you see the contents of the drive.
If you want to customize what shows up under the context menu, take a quick read through USB Drive AutoRun.inf Tweaking. There is a wealth of information there that may help you out.
If that article is of no help, then feel free to fire me an e-mail and I’ll see what I can do for you.
Tim
October 20th, 2006 at 11:49 am
Great Tip! I’ve always been paranoid about this happening - and the idea of specifying a reward is the icing on the cake! I’ve installed your program and it works great…..
……now can you write one that works for my dog?
Mike Bierstock
October 20th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Mike B,
It looks like someone has beaten me to the punch. But, it probably only works when your dog sniffs another dog’s butt!
October 20th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Does Help!.exe pop up this warning on your own computer? You could configure it to recognize the names of the computer you use most often to avoid the lost message.
October 20th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
I renamed all my drives: jaronsumm@aol.com
That way if someone looks at the drive that is the first thing they will see, then they write me a note and I give them a reward. Works for any kind of drive, I think. I have strange theories about moving information. http://www.jaronbs.com/Georgia12.htm
October 21st, 2006 at 4:43 am
If you have a U3 drive and implement a few little hacks you can have the USB drive autorun without the dialog and launch a few more exectuables than just the little warning message ( http://www.usbhacks.com ) …this could be handy if it is stolen, have it send IP data to a remote email account, lock up their system until a code is entered, lots of fun stuff.
October 21st, 2006 at 7:54 am
This is what’s missing. It gives you the opportunity to be a little proactive in your search rather than relying solely on the honesty of others.
# Munir Nassar Says:
October 19th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
What you could do is have the autorun.ini launch IE and go to http://www.example.com/lostnfound.cgi which logs where the drive is coming from, computer name and other such information while also displaying the above message in the browser.
October 22nd, 2006 at 5:12 am
This is a good idea. I already know this feature from the Carry it Easy Software that I use. The Carry it Easy Software even goes a little futher and hides all your data in a private partition on the flash drive and only leaved a Lost & Found HTML file visible on the flash drive. All my data is safe and hidden so the finder can only see my contact information and has no chance to access my data in any way.
October 23rd, 2006 at 12:22 pm
A little security note: This isn’t necessarily a good idea if you have unencrypted personal data on your drive - now they not only have your data, but also your name and address.
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Ok I know you have it set where the icon for the USB drive is the same one as the script file so how do you change in the icon in Autoit? I want to know this for future scripts as I know I can just put a .ico image in the root and set the autorun to use that image image instead.
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:18 pm
The icon is selected when you compile the script. This is an option regardless of whether you use the compiler provided to you in Aut2Exe or the wrapper provided with Scite.
Tim
October 24th, 2006 at 11:53 am
That is a great idea. However, I wonder if any stats have been compiled to see if this actually works in recovering your lost key drive? I make sure I encrypt any personal information in case I lose it. I’ve lost my drives twice - once it was under the bed for a few months and the other it went through the washer/dryer (and lived!), but my fear is it getting into some unsavory characters hands.
October 25th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
Hey, thanks for the awesome tool.
Any chance of providing the source for the revision (with the Readme.txt implementation?
It would be really helpful! Thanks.
October 26th, 2006 at 1:33 am
Would this work with my Seagate pocket drive? Better yet, let me try it and I’ll post back. Thanks!
VMD
October 26th, 2006 at 7:48 am
HI - I would dearly love to get this going, but whenever I put the .inf etc on my USB drive (in the root) then the little panel does not pop up asking me what to do any more (when I disconnect and reconnect) and if I right click on the drive, the help does not show, also if I click on autoplay from this context menu, the panel is totally blank.
any suggestions as to what the problem might be???
thanks, Megan
October 26th, 2006 at 10:11 am
MZ,
Ask and ye shall receive:
Help2.au3
Tim
October 26th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Zonie,
Look forward to hearing what you find. I suspect that it should work without any trouble.
Tim
October 26th, 2006 at 10:16 am
Megan,
Very strange. Could you possibly try it on a different computer to see if it works on that system?
Tim
October 27th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Hi again - I tried it on a different box (mine is XP, the other win2k) and again no panel popup - this is an older PNY flash drive so do you think the problem lies with the drive? also the computers I tried it on are networked - could it be a firewall thing? I use a computer a lot but am not at all tech so have no idea about these things. Thanks, Megan
October 27th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
just a ps - is it possible this doesn’t work because my xp is only sp1 and not sp2 ? (I ended up taking sp2 off because it really messed up my coldfusion setup) thanks, megan
October 27th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Megan,
Bingo! This is exactly why your system is not working properly! AutoPlay was released with SP2. Good detective work!
You can still have the Help me! application on USB drive and it will work on anyone else’s system who does have SP2 installed. You just have no real way of testing it unless you put SP2 on your system. It seems like a lot of work to me just to test a small app.
Tim
October 27th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
OK - thanks! at least now I understand what the problem is
thanks again, Megan
October 29th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
What is that really fun looking PDA.exe application?
October 29th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Steve,
Sometimes, looks can be deceiving. PDA stands for Portable Drive Autorun. This is a program that I wrote in AutoIt which configures the computer that my USB drive is plugged into.
It mounts my encrypted TrueCrypt volume, launches any applications I list in a specified text file in the TrueCrypt volume, creates a shortcut on the desktop to my USB drive menu launcher, creates a shortcut on the desktop to my cleanup program.
Not very fun but definitely lazy!
Tim
October 30th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Judging from the screenshots, you have used Truecrypt to encrypt all the data on the drive. Presuming you chose a secure password, you are only out the physical drive itself. The data would be secure since it is encrypted.
If that is all true it would make more sense to just buy a new drive than to buy the finder a drive twice the size.
October 30th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Hey Tim, thanks for the great App. I have loaded it up with no problems and I really hope it works. I think it will, because it is giving people the benefit of the doubt that they will be honest up front. Thanks
October 31st, 2006 at 11:02 am
Hi,
Nice post. I would love to implement the ‘backup’ option after plugging in the USB stick. Is that part of what you do in the steps you refer to below, i.e. it is part of the PDA program? Since you don’t seem to hate the concept of laziness, would you consider sharing that file in some generic form to ease the learning curve to develop our own custom application launcher? and :).
Thanks,
Rob
Steve,
Sometimes, looks can be deceiving. PDA stands for Portable Drive Autorun. This is a program that I wrote in AutoIt which configures the computer that my USB drive is plugged into.
It mounts my encrypted TrueCrypt volume, launches any applications I list in a specified text file in the TrueCrypt volume, creates a shortcut on the desktop to my USB drive menu launcher, creates a shortcut on the desktop to my cleanup program.
Not very fun but definitely lazy!
Tim
November 1st, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Is it possible, for a few extra lines of code, to make the USB key act like a sort of homing beacon. Using Google Maps why not have it transmit data like IP address and location of the individual.
I suppose that would be tantamount to Trojan like behaviour, still it would be nice.
Samuel, UK
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:03 am
Samuel,
I’ve had a lot of people ask this question and the short answer is “Yes”. Unfortunately, the long answer is a lot more complex.
You basically hit the nail on the head when you said that this would be a Trojan and that is exactly how it would behave. I’m not overly excited about writing code and making it available to people that could be quickly perverted.
The other issue is that even if you were to get the IP address of the person’s computer, at best you would only be able to track that back to possibly a city. That’s an awful lot of people to work through.
Now, if you happened to work for the ISP that the person uses, you may have more access to information but there are other ethical issues at play with that issue.
Now, I’m sure I could also write a program that would scan through the user’s computer and get more information about the user, but that just gets even creepier!
Tim
November 3rd, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I’m not a geek, and I don’t play one on TV, but that’s a cool thing you’ve made.
Thanks,
Jim.
November 3rd, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Thanks, Jim! And don’t despair. With a little bit of effort and a really good pocket protector, you, too, can be a geek!
Tim
November 16th, 2006 at 10:12 am
I use a mac so anything PC specific won’t work for me, or other mac users. If you want your “owner info” file noticed why not just put that one file, as a text file, in the root. Then have a sub folder for all your other files. This way the finder is most likely to see your info file upon first opening the drive. Remember to K.I.S.S. and then no matter who finds your drive they will be able to find your owner info. This is assuming, of course, that the finder is at all interested in returning your drive. Which leads me to another point: if the finder *wants* to return the drive then the finder will actively look for any personal information that will allow him/her to contact the owner. For those finders who are only interested in keeping what they have found, they will just reformat the drive regardless of what you’ve put on it.
December 19th, 2006 at 11:05 am
hello i need help to fix my problem with portable usb drive. the usb drive is not opening some how i think it’s lock it by itself. i tried at many different usb ports but still i didn’t get anything out of it. so please could you help me to solve my problem.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Akuma, There is a 90% chance anyone who puts your USB drive into their computer has found it. They probably didn’t steal it. Do you actually propose to lock up someoneone’s computer until you get your drive back? I would reformat my PC and melt your drive if you did that.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Instead of using your home address you could ask them to send it to your local police station. You can use this for house keys too.
March 11th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I can’t get the autorun to work properly. Can You help. It says in the box it will use my program then say what program I will use.
March 12th, 2007 at 11:38 am
I use a mac and a windows.. any possible way of making it inter platform compatible?
March 13th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
It dosen’t work. I have a windows 2000.
March 13th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
AutoPlay was released with SP2 on Windows XP. It will not work on W2K.
March 14th, 2007 at 10:07 am
where do we copy these files to cause i can’t get any of mine to work.
March 14th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
im sorry but im a noob and was wondering how to save it to the root thanks
March 14th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Is there a way so that the autorun will not open the autorun screen and just go strait to the “Help!I’m lost” message? Thanks
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:23 am
This little program saved my wife and I a lot of of grief and emotional trauma while on vacation. Read on.
I am a PopSci reader and linked to DCoT via the mag. My family, which includes two VERY energetic boys, five and three, went to Disneyland for a little get-a-way. Before we went I told my wife about the ‘I’m Lost’ program that one can install on a jump drive.
We decided to buy three 32Mb drives, which are a dime a dozen nowadays, one for each boy and one for us with the same program and ’secret phrase’ on it. We also included our cellphone numbers. Two lanyards with dangling USB drives that had a ‘I’m Lost’ label adhered to them and tucked into their shirts later, we had two boys that if got lost would be found and be reunited with us quickly.
We told the boys to cry for mom or dad if they wander off or got lost and then give the USB drive to the person that found them.
Our three year old did just what we thought he would do — Disappeared. Within 13 minutes of being ‘lost’ though, my cellphone rang. My three year old whom we thought didn’t understand what we told him about the funny thing around his neck actually did what we told him. The account from our boys ‘finder’ was humorous and panned out like this: My little reheaded boy was SCREAMING for his mom. The ‘finder’ came to help him, the boy showed the ‘finder’ the labeled USB drive, the ‘finder’ then brought him to security, security plugged the USB drive in to his computer, saw the message and called me on my cellphone. When we went to retrieve our boy the security guard asked for our USB drive with the secret phrase on it. The USB drives performed just as set up to. It had my cellphone number, my boys’ first name (first name only!) to calm him down and his favorite treat.
To say the least, D-land security was very impressed and the ‘finder’ equally impressed and my redhead boy was wearing M&M’s on his lips and chin.
There it is. Not only can you retrieve lost USB drives with this you can also find lost kids. Thank you!
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Curious about the “Secret Phrase” part of the post about the kids and security.
Can you or the poster shed more light on this?
More detail please
March 22nd, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Dang Erik, that was the best read I’ve had in a long time. What an ingenious use of lanyard USB drives!! Kudos to you and your wife for working together on something like this, and for your kids being so trusting.
‘Curious’, I’m guessing that Erik simply had a pass-phrase on both his own USB key as well as that of the child, so the security team could verify that “this child” belongs to “this adult”. I’ve heard of similar things where parents will tell their kid “Never ever ever (!!) get into a car with someone if they don’t know our special password” and then give the kid a secret word/phrase that someone picking them up from school has to know otherwise the kid is supposed to go screaming bloody murder to the nearest teacher/official, etc.
Personally, if I were to do something like Erik’s idea, I’d place my name, cell phone number, my kid’s name, favorite treat, and a family portrait on the USB key with explicit instructions to only release the child if one of the parents comes to get the kid, and knows the ’secret handshake’ or something.
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:09 pm
That seems right.
I thought it was part of the ‘LostDrive’ code.
Thx for clearing that one up for me.
It’s an excellent use of such a simple piece of hardware that is common in the workplace as well as the public.
Kudos to the poster, and thx for the info…
This needs to go to the National News…
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Don’t know if my previous post made it or not - retry…
Thx for clearing that up ‘W98′
I thought they added that pass-phrase to the code (would that be possible?) of the ‘LostDrive’ app.
This is something that needs national attention given all the kids that wind up missing and/or lost.
Such a simple use of this hardware, given that the hardware is in [alce and use everywhere.
Kudos to the poster and we’re glad everthing turned out ok for the youngster (M&M’s can do wonderful things for a young mind…)
March 24th, 2007 at 8:08 am
I like my tech but am not good enough to go programming etc. Can someone point me in the direction of a simple ‘how to’ guide for this? I don’t have kids myself but know plenty who do and I love this idea! email me at djpray2k@hotmail.com
March 24th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
This is an excellent script! Thank you!!
Another great thing to have on your flash drive is a text file labeled in all caps: IN EMERGENCY. The file reads (All fake info in this example…obviously):
————————
IN EMERGENCY
————————
My name is Johnny Doe of San Diego
My wife is Melissa
CONTACTS (in order of contact):
Wife - (Melissa): (555) 555-5555
Mother & Father: Carol & Mark Doe: (555) 555-5555
In-Laws - Judy & Michael Hampton: (555) 555-5555
***************************************************
I have Blue Cross of California Insurance
Johnny B. Doe
Insurance Number: AABB12345678
Group Number: 0843-441
$15 Co-Pay
***************************************************
In San Diego, my hospital preference is Sharp Memorial. However, in an emergency, this shall be authorization to be treated at the nearest hospital.
***************************************************
My blood type is Type-0-Negative
I am allergic to Bee Pollen and Tigan (Wyeth Pharmaceuticals)
No other known allergies.
****************************************************
March 25th, 2007 at 12:59 am
Why not just carry two of them? What about backups?
March 29th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Ok, so I’m a science geek, not a tech geek, but I’m trying. I would love to get this working, but, either I don’t know how to extract this file to root, or something else is wrong. I have tried this on two drives, one of which has portableapps on it. I thought maybe the aurorun for that software may be overiding the autorun for this app, so I tried it on a basically blank usb drive. Neither work. What am I doing wrong?
March 29th, 2007 at 10:23 am
A few things to look at:
1) This needs to be on WinXP SP2 or Vista
2) Make sure you unplug and replug the USB drive into the system
3) Some CD burning software disables AutoPlay and this could be causing you issue
Tim
March 29th, 2007 at 10:30 am
1) yep, XP sp2
2) yep, tried it twice on each drive
3) Autoplay still comes up for one drive (the one with portableapps), but does not come up at all on the other one.
Thanks very much for the quick reply and the great help you are offering overall to everyone through this site!
March 29th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Nevermind, I got it. For those of you others who had trouble due to lack of tech skills. I needed to remove the items from the folders the extraction had created, and just put them on the drive by themselves (not in the folders). Works great now! Thanks again!
April 16th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
FWIW
I was talking to a friend about Lost Child version of this script and she mentioned a website that has a free software program (30-day trailware or register with an email address for unlimited use) that can be used to create child ID cards, medical records info, info for babysitters, and ready-to-go Amber Alert reports.
http://www.chiponthego.com/
Meanwhile I was looking for a similar solution for my dog and came across a similar solution for pets at http://www.toptagpetid.com/
… although, I don’t know if either of them are as designed to be as end-user friendly as what DCot developed.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Help Your Lost USB Drive Get Home…
Here’s a real handy way to help your lost USB drive find its way home.
Daily Cup of Tech gives us some simple files to put on your USB drives to encourage people to return it.
Download this ZIP file and unzip it to the root of your USB drive. E…
April 18th, 2007 at 2:07 am
i want to change the text and icon so that it look like a regular flash drive so that i can play pranks on people when they try and use my usb it could say like “did i give you permission to use this “
April 18th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
i totally agree with jorge ,”i want to change the text and icon so that it look like a regular flash drive so that i can play pranks on people when they try and use my usb it could say like “did i give you permission to use this “
April 26th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
If I got this right, the Web site isn’t mine - I don’t have one - but a news story. Apparently “Malware purveyors deliberately left USB sticks loaded with a Trojan in a London car park in a bid to trick users into getting infected. The attack was designed to propagate Trojan banking software that swiped users’ login credentials from compromised machines.”
I also read that a security company mailed USB memory drives to… finance directors, I think, in companies, just as a test, and when they were inserted… well, I dunno. I would expect at least the specimen EICAR pseudo-virus or an audio-visual, Web-enabled “Ha-ha!” And maybe superglue.
April 27th, 2007 at 5:27 am
Ok, i am definitely NOT technical at all but I love the idea of being able firstly to get my flash drive back if I should mislay it and secondly to be able to have things like the MHU (Must have Utilities on the same drive. My question is, because both items have autorun files, how do i install more than one thing on the same USB drive. Any help for a web footed newb.
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Hi. I read about your program in a popular science article at school. I am not very technically advanced but i followed your instructions and extracted all the files from Lostdrive.zip. After redoing the message in the Read Me i saved and unplugged my drive and plugged it back in. The AutoPlay box popped up but no help me inside. Could you inform me why this might be and help me fix it? It would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Kiefer H.
May 4th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Hi, I was wondering, is there a way to both start the “I’m lost” Msg, and open the folder for the user to browse?
Cus’ all I get form dbl clicking is the Msg… And in order to open the actual drive, I have to choose the Explore option. For an unexperienced user,this will be quit difficult. (you know, those people that can’t save a word document… :p)
Btw, love your guide, simple, clear. Nicely done!
May 16th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Have Your Lost USB Drive Ask For Help…
…
May 17th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Thanks a lot for this
June 5th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
hey,
I was wondering how u send info from a usb stick (my iPod)to my email or Gmail account/inbox? i have software that’ll record some network info. So if some one stole my usb stick i could record his/her network and contact people. thanx
June 5th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Feedback on a glitch I saw mentioned by somebody. If you make the “action” text in the autorun.inf file too long then the AutoPlay window comes up blank. In my couple of short tests “too long” appears to be “wider than would fit on one line in the AutoPlay window”.
June 15th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I have tried everything and cannot get the program to autorun when I plug in my USB drive. Do I have to enable Autorun somewhere in Windows. I copied the script exactly as you wrote it but cannot get Windows to run it when I plug in the drive. Anyone have an ideas?
July 19th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
This is really awesome. I was playing around with your program, and have added it to my lovely titanium cruzer just for the sheer geeky-pleasure I derive from it.
Could I ask you for the code to make the exe read from the text file… Just want to mess around with it
Thanks!
August 7th, 2007 at 5:25 am
I just lost mine…had a whole lot of my uni cad files on it, wish i found this a bit earlier…
August 18th, 2007 at 8:04 am
hi i have also a software but whenever i thought that my hdd not work properly firstly i taken the backup of the hdd if itis not possible. Then lastly i took my hdd into hdrc recovery centre. Because sometime we are recover the data my ourself in that time hdd go down under physcial condition. They recover my data in a original shape which i lost before the recovery. If you guys need more details please contant with this website:www.hdrconline.com.
best regards
September 16th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
You can also make the UFD Bootable, unlimited posibilities once bootable.
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:57 pm
wow, this is a cool program. thank you for making it.
i have one question though: how do i change the icon? as it is now, the icon has been changed from what is normally seen to the coffee bean. don’t get me wrong, i like coffee and i even work @ starbucks, but i’d rather not have this as the default icon when i look at it in my computer.
thanks in advance.
October 25th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Changing the default icon isn’t hard if you have another icon. Just put the icon in the root folder and change the line that says icon=Help!.exe to icon=iconname.ico with iconname obviously being your icon’s name. This is a bit random, but if you want to make your own icons, google iconart. It is a cool and FREE program.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
thanks so much! i’ll definitely look into this.
November 27th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
just a quick point. If you have your house keys attached to your USB key (as I do), I REALLY wouldn’t suggest advertising your home address (as I was about to).
January 6th, 2008 at 3:19 am
i’m usually a bit more afraid of someone finding and then stealing my drive. i think another idea is to set the autorun to email urself information about the computer it is plugged into. iono..maybe find the ip address (i’m not sure how it’ll help but maybe u can get creative) and then use a couple of batch files, blat, and stunnel to email the stuff to urself.
January 6th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I was wondering if it would be possible to add a password section to this popup and not be able to access this drive any other way. that way your files stay secure and you can still access them.
January 7th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
(response to Jesse S)
I’m not sure if you can force the user to be able to access the drive only through that popup, but there’s a way you can encrypt your files and make it seem like there’s no other way to access the drive.
I made a small tutorial on how to use TrueCrypt and autorun to be able to do what you’re trying to do. You can see it at:
http://atsaiko.blogspot.com/2008/01/keeping-your-usb-drive-safe-part-1.html
January 8th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
(response to Jesse S)
I’m not sure there’s a way to force the user to not be able to access the drive any other way but you can make it seem like there isn’t.
There’s a way you can use TrueCrypt and autorun in Windows to have something automatically popup whenever you plugin your USB drive and ask for a password. I’ve made a small tutorial on this:
http://atsaiko.blogspot.com/2008/01/keeping-your-usb-drive-safe-part-1.html
January 18th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Inspired by your original article, I have written an application that will also present the \readme.txt file, but also launch a mailto if it finds something that looks like an email inside that file.
Would you like to take a look at it (it’s 87kb) ?
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I was inspired by your unique idea and decided to try to steal your idea and make the program myself. I have Java and JCreator, and I attempted to try to write the program myself, and add a password requirement to it. It ended up looking like this:
/**
* @(#)Flash Drive Security.java
*
* Flash Drive Security application
*
* @author Emanuel
* @version 1.00 2008/2/1
*/
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
class Flash
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
int password, answer, result;
String spassword, sresult;
answer = (int)123456;
do
{
spassword = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, “If you are not the owner of this Flash Drive, please call 555 555 5555. Please type in Password.”,
“Flash Drive Security”, JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE);
password = Integer.parseInt(spassword);
if( password == answer)
System.out.println(”Password accepted.”);
else if( password != answer)
JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, “PASSWORD DENIED”,
“Flash Drive Security”, JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE);
}while(password != answer);
sresult = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, “Password Accepted. Press OK to continue.”,
“Flash Drive Security”, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
}
}
It works for the most part. When you activate the program, it opens up a Queston message pop-up input box, and asks for a password. When the correct password is typed in, it opens another pop-up, and says, “Password Accepted. Press OK to continue, and when OK is pushed, it closes. The problems I have are these:
1. If a letter(s) is typed into the input box where the password is typed in, it terminates the progrtam automatically.
2. When I tried to make it so that a “String” or letters an possibly numbers would be the password, and be typed in for the password, it would allways go to the “PASSWORD DENIED.” pop-up I programed in, and then go to the first pop-up and ask for the Password, and go in a never ending loop, only to be terminated by ending the program using the Task Manager.
3. I cannot figure out how to make the Password program start automatically either when the flash drive is plugged in, accessed, or when any of the files are accessed.
Could you tell me how to work with this?
else if (Cannot tell)
JOptionYOU.showInputDialog(”Ask a friend if they could help me”);
else if (Cannot ask)
JOptionANYONE.showInputDialog(”CAN ANYONE HELP ME?!?!?”);
If anyone finds the soloutions to my problems, please email me at emfle27@yahoo.com
February 15th, 2008 at 4:43 am
I tried to compile the script to an exe but it cannot run! why?
March 5th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I am just looking for why an autorun.inf won’t work to open a simple ReadMe.txt file when connected
[autorun]
open=readme.txt
Not directly related, I know… you’d think I’d have found it by now.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Hello,
What a top idea!
Only one problem! How do I get it to run?
I am clueless with most things ‘techie’. How do you: “Extract the contents to your root of your USB drive”?
I have downloaded the Lostdrive program to my pendrive.
What do I have to do next?
A step by step walk through would be great . Am running XP.
Thanks.
March 9th, 2008 at 1:05 am
More people need to be educated about the risks of mobile data and especially Mobile Storage Devices. For this reason, I recently set up the Honey Stick Project at www.honeystickproject.com. It’s a research experiment on what happens to lost USB drives, and I’m getting some interesting data just from starting in the Ottawa area. I’m hoping to eventually expand it to gather data from other cities. I also have a Facebook group set up called the “Honey Stick Project” for easier discussion on these topics.
Feel free to have a look and send your comments. I hope to write an article shortly about Tim’s great work on this site.
- Scott
March 11th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
were is the root on the usb drive
March 19th, 2008 at 2:39 am
I cant get the program to appear in the Autoplay window.
even if it pops up (WHICH IT SOMETIMES DOESNT) it only mentions 4 things and none of them enable you to run the Help me program. Also even when i click to open the drive in my computer it doesnt show me the message like it is supposed to.
I love the idea but please can someone HELP!
March 19th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I finally got it working.
Here is how I did it. IF YOU FOLLOW MY INSTRUCTIONS AND IT GOES WRONG DON’T BLAME ME! IF you are not sure don’t try it! This is for XP only. Read the instructions a couple of times and then have a couple of dry runs, without doing anything, before doing it for real.
The root of your USB could change from computer to computer, on my machine it is J:, at work it is F: and at college it is E:.
If you are not sure, insert your pen drive and then go to START/My Computer. There are usually three areas, look to the area called “Devices with Removable storage” Your USB drive root will be the one with “USB Disk” followed by a letter in this format ‘(J:)’ for example, instead of Removable Disk. Keep a note of this letter.
To install the “Lost Drive” program, first alter the text in the Read me.txt file to the message you want to display and then Save.
On the toolbar on the top of the My computer window look for the button for FOLDER and press this. A directory will appear, look for the letter that is assigned to your pen drive: this is the elusive ‘root’.
To install the program, go to where the area you downloaded it to, you will find the area somewhere in the Folders area you just opened ,open the Lost Drive folder and left click on one of the the files Help.exe,readme.txt,or autorun.inf drag and drop each one in turn to the ‘root’ of your drive.
That’s it! As I said this is what I did and it worked, if you try it and something goes wrong, I take no responsibiliy. I am NOT an IT professional and do not profess to be. Goo
March 21st, 2008 at 2:35 am
This is a Godsend! I just compiled the script into a custom popup that points to a “Help_Me.txt” file on the root of the drive.And as we all know,txt files can be opened on near any OS.So even if a Linux,Mac,or other user finds it,it can be read.Couple that with the fact I just bought two 64MB USB drives for $1 each,and it makes it very easy to create a “Help! I’m Injured or Ill!” setup. After compiling it,it worked without a hitch on my XP Pro SP2 setup.I am about to plug it into Linux box and see what comes up.All one needs to do is keep it with a set of Dog Tags about the neck and there you have it.Or put it on the keyring with your keys.Also,Don’t forget to ICE the Cell Phone as well.EMT’s and Medics look for such things. Be well!
March 25th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Akuma, There is a 90% chance anyone who puts your USB drive into their computer has found it. They probably didn’t steal it. Do you actually propose to lock up someoneone’s computer until you get your drive back? I would reformat my PC and melt your drive if you did that. same here i woud stick tnt in the usb drive if that happen & kaboom ding dong the usb drive is dead! ding dong the usb drive is deaaad!!
March 30th, 2008 at 6:15 am
I think the point is to get it to work on someone else’s computer, not on yours. And a medical alert might be better in a form useable without a computer - maybe a pendant with a Post-It note inside. Another system in elders’ homes is to store a pack of data, maybe medicine too, in the refrigerator with a large sticker on the front of the fridge that indicates to emergency workers that a medical pack is inside. (Otherwise it wouldn’t really work.)
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
I have a U3 drive that wouldn’t let me modify the autorun.inf file. Any suggestions?
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:50 pm
what would really be amazing: a program that auto-launches in stealth mode every time the drive is inserted, emailing the current computer’s IP address to the owner of the USB drive. that way, you could see if it was stolen/borrowed/found by someone at your school or office.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
my company has now stopped usb devices from automatically starting and lots more companies are worried about security from usb devices so are switching the ports off so this message may not be very effective.
when my dad asked me if this computer thing was mine , when i left my memory stick at in his car i realised using this way of id’ng my memory stick was no good. even though i use truecrypt loosing my device would be a pain but i only came up with 2 alternatives to getting a memory stick back, stuffbak.com who were no good as they are in the us and usbstickfinder.com who i use in the uk. they both offer postal return for found devices. it costs but u get what you pay for…
R
May 20th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Hi,
I would also be very concerned about any *.exe file on a USB device other than my own. Therefore I use a plain *.txt file (in drive root) that is
1. safe to open
2. readable on any OS
3. as easy to use with autoplay as your program
My autorun.inf looks like this:
[Autorun]
Open=notepad lost-found.txt
Action=Lost and Found Information (TXT)
Icon=drive.ico
Label=My USB drive label
shell\found=Lost and Found Info
shell\found\command=notepad lost-found.txt
shellexecute=lost-found.txt
So it does the exact same things as your program only it doesn’t have the nice looks. Notepad should be found on any Windows to open the file as intended and on other OS or when autoplay/autorun is disabled the first thing you see when you open the drive is the “lost-found.txt” which is the only file I keep in root besides the autorun.inf.
Just my 2c.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
How do I add two things to the autorun.inf? I want the option to run this nifty app, but I still want to run PSStart.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:11 am
is there a wayto combine this with a password?
in other words have the popup be the only option and you ban put in a password and get in to the disk on key or hit ok and nothing happens??
thanks
talishai
September 5th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
why is that the code isn’t visible anymore?
where can i get it? (i mean the autoIt code)
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:43 am
Now, up there in the article, it says:
Error: Could not open Help!.au3
and
Error: Could not open autorun.inf
September 24th, 2008 at 7:05 am
There’s a quick and dirty way to “hack” your USB so that it could be returned. Just purchase a permanent marker and write your note on the outside of the stick. You can coat it with some nailpolish if you’re worried it wears off. Now the finder can discover how to return your USB without needing to run the risk of testing it in their computer.
September 27th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Great idea! Would be better if it automatically opened instead of all that right-click or select program hassle…
November 26th, 2008 at 4:43 am
Thank you so much for this. This is a brilliant idea.