Patent ID: 7574535

Claim:
A method of managing data in a removable memory source at a mobile computing device, the method comprising: coupling the removable memory source, the removable memory source not having data processing capability; querying data stored in the removable memory source for presence of a key associated with another mobile computing device; determining whether the mobile computing device is authorized to access the removable memory source responsive to detecting the presence of the key associated with the other mobile computing device; querying data stored in the removable memory source for presence of a memory source identifier associated with the mobile computing device responsive to not detecting the presence of the key or determining presence of the authority to access the removable memory source, the memory source identifier representing association of backup data in the removable memory source with data in the mobile computing device, the memory source identifier generated by the mobile computing device; automatically synchronizing the backup data in the removable memory source with data in the mobile computing device responsive to detecting the memory source identifier associated with the mobile computing device; and accessing data in the removable memory source except the backup data responsive to not detecting the memory source identifier associated with the mobile computing device, and responsive to not detecting the key associated with the other mobile computing device or determining that the mobile computing device is authorized to access the removable memory source.