We love getting great tips on how to use common household items in unintended ways. This tip comes from James Fallows at The Atlantic. After a dramatic ordeal with replacing missing files on a lost USB flash drive, he discovered that his little storage friend took a trip through the wash and dry cycles in his pants pocket. He was excited it still worked (and said so on his blog), until a reader warned him that his USB drive is a time bomb ticking away, and could lose its life in any instant due to rust. But another reader suggested a patch that might save his buddy—forever!
How To: Save Your USB Drive from Certain Death
A bath in the common US lubricant WD-40 helps to keep the internal components of a USB drive from rusting.
When your drive takes a dip, pry open its case and let it dry for about 24 hours before your spray it with the WD-40. It's a little smelly, but your data should be intact and your drive should still be working fine. Especially handy if you have something cool, expensive or unique, like the Steampunk USb Drive.
[ image from WikiMedia Commons ]
Tags
How to..., water, USB, rust, drive, flash, thumb, WD-40, wash, washedRelated Links
- How to: Install OS X, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Linux Ubuntu on a Macbook
...and rule the world! - DIY Wood Flash Drive: Make You Own Great Looking Cheap Wooden USB Drive
- DIY: Tube Amplifier Kit Build (In Recycled Box), Part Too
- How To... Wall Mount a Flat-Panel TV
- Slinks: When to Buy Gadgets
Share
Comments (3)
Top Tech Tours
Top Posts
lifestyle
green
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
The best way to dry your wet electronics is in the refrigerator. It not only makes bread stale, but it will usually save a toilet dropped mobile phone or a water, coffee, or tea drenched keyboard. It will do wonders for your usb key too. Just remember if there are any batteries, remove them first.
view Michael Dumas's profile
I fell in a lake 4 years ago with my thumbdrive, and have washed/dried it in my pocket also since, and it's still ticking.
view amt230's profile
I have a 6gig hard drive thumb drive (at least 4 years old) which I have washed and dried at least once, but it is still going strong, much to my amazement.
view BigD's profile