Calling all USB Flash Detectives!

[SamNewey]

Hi all,

Walking around work I noticed a USB flash drive that I recognized to be mine in my bosses computer. I asked him about it and he said he had one that was identical, but that this one could infact be mine. He has offered to clear the drive and give it to me, but I would feel guilty taking it without knowing it was mine.

On to the question. Is there any way to look through the properties of the USB stick to work out whether it is mine? I have used it on my home computer which is a Macintosh, so my first thoughts are to check if it has a .trashes hidden folder (which would have been put there by my Mac) as my boss has a Windows OS it should not have this folder.

If he has wiped it however since having it, is there any other way to find out if it is mine, perhaps a device ID that I could check against my computers device history or something? Or perhaps a memory stick still holds 'deleted' files that could be viewed for a file name?

Any thoughts are appreciated, I don't know about you, but I am finding this rather interesting!

Thanks,
Sam.

(P.S. - This isn't an argument about proving ownership, this is just a thought experiment to hopefully make me feel less guilty about accepting something that isn't definitely mine)

 

[thejackal85]

One way for sure would be to check the filing system type. If you used it on your MAC and Windows, the filing system type should be FATor FAT32. If he has one identical that he uses just for Windows, the file system type should be regular NTFS.

However, if he has wiped it already, he might have reformatted it for you. Only real for sure way to tell would be to see if there's anything on it.

 

[mjslakeridge]

USB flash drives used on a Windows system can also be FAT32. All of mine are, I just checked. Ask him if he reformatted it. Or just go buy a new flash drive to avoid getting on the bad side of your boss.

 

[SamNewey]

One way for sure would be to check the filing system type. If you used it on your MAC and Windows, the filing system type should be FATor FAT32. If he has one identical that he uses just for Windows, the file system type should be regular NTFS.

However, if he has wiped it already, he might have reformatted it for you. Only real for sure way to tell would be to see if there's anything on it.

He just gave me the memory stick and it is formatted as FAT32. As the person below you said this is no guarantee but it has no files on it so no way to check.

I will see if I can come up with anything else

 

[thejackal85]

I wish there was another way where we could positively verify. But unfortunately in this case, I think it would be best if you manually did look.

 

[SamNewey]

I wish there was another way where we could positively verify. But unfortunately in this case, I think it would be best if you manually did look.

What do you mean manually look?

He has given me the memory stick as he is very kind, but this is more for my own curiosity at this point. I have the memory stick so I can do any checks you can think of

 

[thejackal85]

Oh, I apologize, I didn't re-read what you had posted and saw that he gave you the memory stick. Well, if it's already formatted and there's nothing on it, I'm afraid you won't be able to tell. Plus, depending on how he formatted it, it would be very difficult to restore what was on it.

I hate to say it, but as this point, I don't think we'll find out.