[PLUG] Resolved: Flash Drive went through the wash

[Frank Filz]

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: plug-bounces at pdxlinux.org [mailto:plug-bounces at pdxlinux.org] On
> Behalf Of tomas.kuchta.lists at gmail.com
> Sent: Saturday, July 6, 2019 3:29 PM
> To: Portland Linux/Unix Group <plug at pdxlinux.org>
> 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.
> >
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