So my USB Thumb Drive was really great for a long time. I bought it because it claimed to be extremely rugged and capable of withstanding pressures around 2,000 lbs! Cnet ran it over with a car and it seemed to be fine. It had enough space (512 MB) and didn't have a cap to get lost. Its only weakness, as I recently found, is that the USB connecter is as fragile as any other USB device's, from printer cables to mouse connectors. When my laptop fell (not my fault but a long and expensive story), the connector was horribly bent and pulled some of the computer's port out with it (grrrrr... $300 motherboard replacement). Well - I loved the drive before so I'm probably gunna buy the same one again but I wondered what to do with the old one. I couldn't just throw something of such exquisite design into the trash without a proper burial - A disection. The following are images from that disection and the surprising outcome. Look directly under the images for my comments.
This is what my drive first looked like...
that's what mine looked like
So I used a screwdriver to open it from a sealed edge and here are insides
After some fooling around, this is everything I found inside
This is the actual flash component
... and more detailed
Here you can see how it was clogged and bent, though the picture doesn't show how bent it was. I realized that I might be able to unclogg it...
and I was able to use it in the computer!!!
... but it's very fragile so it needs a case so I can use it before I replace it
... or maybe I'll add it to my disection tool. Oh well
I still need a replacement so I'm checking to see if anything new has come out since I bought this one and thinking of ways to use what I have now. To make it work, I needed to use a pliers to twist connectors and straighten things out, though it still does not fit well. At least I'll get a second life out of it...
Hope you enjoyed!
~ Brett
This is what my drive first looked like...
that's what mine looked like
So I used a screwdriver to open it from a sealed edge and here are insides
After some fooling around, this is everything I found inside
This is the actual flash component
... and more detailed
Here you can see how it was clogged and bent, though the picture doesn't show how bent it was. I realized that I might be able to unclogg it...
and I was able to use it in the computer!!!
... but it's very fragile so it needs a case so I can use it before I replace it
... or maybe I'll add it to my disection tool. Oh well
I still need a replacement so I'm checking to see if anything new has come out since I bought this one and thinking of ways to use what I have now. To make it work, I needed to use a pliers to twist connectors and straighten things out, though it still does not fit well. At least I'll get a second life out of it...
Hope you enjoyed!
~ Brett