With storage media giant Samsung’s introduction of their 1 TB flash drive this month at CES, it’s important to take a look at how to protect these tiny (and getting tinier) portable USB drives from mishaps that can cause data loss.

From the obvious to – well, actually, most of it is pretty obvious… here are a few pertinent reminders to protect your USB drive from a data recovery emergency.

1. Check your pockets –
We’ve received our share of USB drives that look like they’ve been through the ringer – and, in fact, the wash and rinse cycles, too. This simple step can save you time, money and immeasurable stress: check your pockets, including shirts, pants and coats, before you put them in the laundry. Check before you put them in the hamper, and double check right before they go into the wash. It is possible that a USB drive can survive the wash, or that the data may be recoverable if it does get damaged. But it’s better to avoid the chances all together, isn’t it?

2. Remove device properly.
Always select “remove device safely” from the lower toolbar in Windows before you pull a thumb drive out of the USB port. Otherwise, important files may be corrupted or deleted, requiring logical data recovery to access them. Never pull a flash drive out of the USB port if you can hear the telltale whir of your hard drive that means data is being transferred. But even if you don’t hear a sound from your computer, safely remove the device by following that simple step.

While we’re on the topic of flash drive removal, never carry around your laptop with a USB drive sticking out like some high-tech tongue. You risk breaking the drive (not just the housing, but the actual SSL Drive) in half and, unfortunately, even 24 Hour Data would not be able to recover your data in that situation.