It probably means you weren't looking closely enough when you saved them and didn't notice what drive you were in. If you want them in only one place, move them from the drive where you don't want them to the one you do. Then, in the future, look closely at what drive and directory you are in when you want to save more. And, in any case, I hope you are backing them up to a second location so that you don''t lose them when your hard drive fails....

It is truly unfortunate that you had a lightening event. However, this is indeed an educational experience for all users. There is no absolute protection from lightening except total disconnection, and even then there are several reported cases of resulting static electricity doing hardware damage. So with limited options it is our duty to do everything we can, and keep our fingers crossed. Plus, we as users must develop good backup disciplines. DA

Thank you everyone! I feel like I have a plan now and will suggest it at tonight's meeting. I honestly don't know if there are more than one copy? But I'd bet there already is. I really don't think the band directors want anyone to keep up with it. It's the crew who load and unload everything worrying we'll hit it, knock it loose, bend it, something! We do teach them to be responsible for everything. Matter of fact, once it's off the truck and ready to hit the field, we only move what is "extra", with them telling us where it goes. It's their show, and we're there to help. But I totally agree. I don't even baby my own baby. Had to put up his toys since he was 2. Take care of his own dishes or clothes since he was able to carry them. He's ridden the city bus by himself since he was 9... I could go on. It's as big an issue with me as it sounds like it is to you :) Kids get too much help these days, never allowed to fail or learn or what disappointment is. That is one area my boy is strong. And I am glad. Now if someone could teach him to write down assignments, I'd be thrilled! I've been trying since kindergarten. Oh well, can't be good at everything.

One caution: Flash drives contain a "keep alive" battery. That battery may be good for 10 yrs or more, but it is one of the weak points. Beware that sometimes a store may have on sale older drives they wish to move off the shelf. Before you purchase a 'bargain' drive check its date of manufacture on the packaging. If the drive is 5 years old, it is better to buy a newer unit. The memory junctions do wear out. Those are good for about 10,000 writes and rewrites. That's old information so I expect there has been improvements, however, those will eventually wear out. Manufacturers have done a clever thing. internally, these drives contain a program that control writing process. To improve the life of the unit, the internal control shifts the partition and moves the write location so that with use the entire drive gets used, not just the front end. Most of the time, a drive has more space than what is stored on it, so shifting the data location extends life of the junctions by shifting the data location. These drives are just fine for data storage and composing letters with a word processor, or storing photos. I do not recommend using them for active gaming where thousands of rewrites occur during a game session. Its ok for storing the game's data file, but for playing, copy the data files to the hard drive and when the game is done, copy the new data files back to the flash dive.