[PLUG] Flash Drive went through the wash

[Jason Barnett]

My concern would be if any detergents are still inside. Many of them
contain oxidizers which are great for clothes, but bad for metal.  If the
flash drive still has detergent inside, but is dry then it is probably
fine, until the humidity rises and reactivates the oxidizers in the
detergent.

I would keep using it, but don't trust it with anything important.

Jason

On Sat, Jul 6, 2019 at 2:27 PM Galen Seitz <galens at seitzassoc.com> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> galen
> --
> Galen Seitz
> galens at seitzassoc.com
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG mailing list
> PLUG at pdxlinux.org
> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
>