I have a flash drive I similarly sent through the laundry. I didn't do anything special and I'm no longer even sure which one it was, but I did use it after and it was fine (and likely still fine, every once in a while, when looking for things I wind up checking out all my flash drives, if one was failing, I would have noticed).
Frank > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of [email protected] > Sent: Saturday, July 6, 2019 3:29 PM > To: Portland Linux/Unix Group <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [PLUG] Resolved: Flash Drive went through the wash > > This is interesting topic - very academical! > > If the flash drives's plastic survived without any sign of damage - it was most > likely not hot enough and not chemically aggressive enough to have an impact. > > In terms of moisture and corrosive environments - there is hardly any worse > environment than human's pocket in hot summer. People give out a lot of > moisture full of corrosives and also static discharge. > > In terms of the actual flash chip - they are well sealed. The PCB in the drive is > probably the weakest link from the environmental point of view - good rinse > should take care of it. > > Other than that - you have clean, hopefully germ free, USB flash drive. > > I'd keep using it as if nothing else happened to it - never keep single copy of > anything irreplaceable on a flash drive (any storage device really) - new or old, > washed or full of germs. > > -T > > On Sat, 2019-07-06 at 14:33 -0700, Dick Steffens wrote: > > On 7/6/19 2:27 PM, Galen Seitz wrote: > > > On 7/6/19 2:17 PM, Dick Steffens wrote: > > > > I put a flash drive in a shirt pocket and forgot about it. The > > > > shirt and the drive went through the washer and dryer. I just > > > > tried it and it works. (I had already downloaded the contents, so > > > > I wasn't worried about losing data.) > > > > > > > > The question is, did running it through the dryer right after it > > > > ran through the washer dry it out enough that it will be okay? Or > > > > simply because it got wet, and corrosion began, one day it will die? > > > > > > > > Not a big deal. It's an older, smaller flash drive that I don't > > > > use often. Just an academic question. > > > > > > It's certainly possible that there is still moisture inside. If you > > > want to try to preserve it, try burying it in some uncooked rice. > > > Alternatively, if you have an electric oven or toaster oven, you > > > could bake it for an hour or so at 125 degrees. I wouldn't do this > > > in a gas oven due to the moisture given off by combustion. OTOH, > > > given the low cost, I would just recycle it. > > > > Sounds like the best plan. As I said, it's old (as these things go), > > and I wouldn't want to depend on it. > > > > > Had you intercepted it between the washer and dryer, I might have > > > recommended an extra rinse to attempt to get any detergent residue > > > out of it before drying it out. > > > > Rinse and repeat. > > > > Thanks for your analysis. > > > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
