anybody washed a flash drive?

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I just discovered that my Kingston USB flash drive went through the washer and dryer. Anybody else done this? Did yours survive? It's a little too early to try mine as it might not be dry inside yet.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    wcx000wcx000 Posts: 7member
    Mine wasn't Kingston brand, but survived. Let it dry VERY thoroughly.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    Mine survived as well. Washed the sandisk version and it worked the very next day...no problems.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    karl kuehnkarl kuehn Posts: 756member
    There is really little reason for water damaging items like this. They have no internal power, so there is no chance of something shorting out, and most of the exposed metal should be gold or another non-easily corroding metal.



    I would definitely be very careful to leave an unreasonable drying period to make sure that all of the water has evaporated from inside the device so you don't get a short when you power it up.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    havnt put mine through the wash yet... but if im anything like my brother, my day will also come b/c he did the same thing and put it through the wash and his also survived..
  • Reply 5 of 10
    acr4acr4 Posts: 100member
    Haven't done it but you might want to take out a little protection...



    If you can open the drive (i.e. take the plastic casing off), then take a Q-tip soaked in alcohol (grain alcohol would be best, because rubbing alcohol has some oils in it) and rub down the PCB. This will move all the water away and leave a perfectly dry board.



    If you can't get the casing off, then just blow some compressed CO2 in any small hole you can find. Just make sure the thing is 100% dry and there should be no problem with it going bad.



    Just in case though, try using it on someone else's computer first (library computer, work computer, friend that you need to get even with's computer)
  • Reply 6 of 10
    ionyzionyz Posts: 491member
    Mine went through a washing and a drying, while it survived its connecter is loose. It can freely move in and out like 5mm. When I first mounted it OS X took some coaxing, but it may just have been the connector. Now I have to bend it, almost to a 25° angle to mount it. Works but not well.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    mynameheremynamehere Posts: 560member
    My PNY Attache went through the wash (not the dryer) and I didn't even realize it until my parents mentioned that they had found it inside my pocket while moving clothes from washer to dryer. Some silver paint came off but that was about it...just in case, back up all the data on it the first time you reconnect it to a computer.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    I washed mine yesterday... will be testing it out on a public computer on wednesday! Stay tuned!
  • Reply 9 of 10
    yep works fine!!
  • Reply 10 of 10
    More than one. And they are indestructible.
Sign In or Register to comment.