Thumb / Flash drive through the washing machine
When I was sick a while ago my roomate lent me his blanket so that I could keep warm. He requested yesterday that I wash it and return it to him, and so I did so, but somehow my thumb drive got mixed in with the load. Luckily I discovered it before it hit the dryer. It is a 4GB kingston datatraveller, worth probably around $30, so money isn’t the problem, the problem is what was on it: a 30+ hour project about 20 hours in worth 15% of my grade in one of my classes. So, I searched yahoo answers for a solution, and the answers ranged from “your fucked” to let it sit in the sun for a week or two. Having 36 hours until the project was due and around 12ish before I would have to start from scratch to finish after an all nighter, I didn’t have that kind of time.
So I set it in front of my space heater overnight. A while after I woke up, after it had been sitting in the drying heat for 11 hours, I finally had the courage to plug it in. The LED flashed as normal as soon as I plugged it in and it showed up in my computer. I immediately copied my project and some other important stuff which copied fine. Then I ran scandisk which didn’t detect a single error. I don’t think I am going to trust it as the exclusive source for my important but unfinished files from here on out, but it appears to be working fine. Still, mad props to kingston for making an electronic device that can survive the wash!
So there you have it folks, if your flash drive ends up in the washer, there is a very good chance it might still work perfectly, just make sure that it is completely dry before you plug it back in, and a good way to dry it is to put it in front of a space heater for around 11 hours.
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