# Flash drive + Washing machine



## ean_skxawng

Earlier today I had one of my 16 GB flash drives go through the washing machine. I realized that I had forgotten it and went to retrieve it 6 minutes before the cycle was done. I proceeded to take it, put it in rice, and I waited for 1 hour.

I then took a hairdryer and tried to evaporate the rest of the water quickly for about 10 minutes, shaking it, blowing on it, etc, trying to make sure all the water was out. Once I was satisfied, I took it plugged it into a laptop, and booted into Ubuntu (yes, I forgot to mention, I installed Ubuntu on the flash drive).

It worked for about 5 minutes, then Ubuntu froze and I got a 'read only device' error, and it went to a black screen repeating this text, along with the flash drive light blinking on and off at a steady pace.

At this point I'm freaking out, so I turn the computer off, unplug the drive, and swish it around in some rubbing alcohol to try and move any extra water out of it. Again, I take a hairdryer and keep the drive under heat for 30 minutes until I'm once again satisfied that its totally dry.

And again, I plug it into a laptop, this time it doesn't even work. The light just flashes on and off steadily.

So now I fear the worst. Do you think the drive is toast, or does it just need more drying time? If it were my guess, I'd say its toast, because it DID work for a few minutes, then quit.


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## jamesd1981

have you tried formatting the stick ?


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## StrangleHold

Should have gave it longer to dry out the first time. After the hair dryer I probably would have let it sit around for a few days. After the freeze/error and not working again, my guess is it shorted out.


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## awildgoose

I have had this happen to me many times, I have a bad record with flash drives. In fact I accidentally mowed over one, long story.

Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. The trick is, I have found, don't plug it in until it is 100% dried out, as to not short circuit it. Some obviously are better quality and can handle water, but you never know, what I would do is leave it for another short while, maybe a day or so and try again. The third time I did the leave in washing trick (okay it's not a trick but you understand) I left it for a while and when I came back to put it in it worked.

Could help, may or may not.
Some others who know more about actual flash drives and such may know what to do.


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## ean_skxawng

StrangleHold said:


> Should have gave it longer to dry out the first time. After the hair dryer I probably would have let it sit around for a few days. After the freeze/error and not working again, my guess is it shorted out.



Crap.



awildgoose said:


> Some obviously are better quality and can handle water, but you never know...



It _is_ a Sony Microvault, if that makes any difference.


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## voyagerfan99

StrangleHold said:


> Should have gave it longer to dry out the first time. After the hair dryer I probably would have let it sit around for a few days. After the freeze/error and not working again, my guess is it shorted out.



+1

Should have given it a day or two. When you get electronics wet, don't be in such a big hurry to see if they work; they'll work for a short time then die. THEN you'll be pissed.


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## ean_skxawng

voyagerfan99 said:


> they'll work for a short time then die. THEN you'll be pissed.



That's exactly what happened. I was in a rush to try and get a few school files off of it so I could put them on my other 16 GB drive, considering this happened on a Sunday afternoon. 

All-in-all, I only lost a few old projects I don't need anymore, but would be nice to have in a small electronic portfolio of sorts. Plus a few more important things like current Java projects, or Ubuntu settings I worked hard on tweaking.

So meanwhile, I'm in the process of getting another drive for Ubuntu, and I'll wait a few days to see if this current drive is done for.


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## dtiao7eb

i'm no expert...but i think the swooshing in rubbing alcohol... might not be a great idea no? with the case... didn't u effectively soak it in alcohol? rubbing alcohol is corrosive...probably ate the rest of ur drive...


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## CrayonMuncher

awildgoose said:


> I have had this happen to me many times, I have a bad record with flash drives. In fact I accidentally mowed over one, long story.



This made burst out with laughter 

Im pretty sure the drive is done for now btw


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## Nanobyte

My personal preference is Tide, it gets flash drives really clean, even in cold water.

I would put it somewhere warm, preferably in a breeze.  Ducted air heating outlets are great.  Water is not a good conductor at low voltages but it may be enough to upset logic (like the data connections to the PC).  Any water inside will take days or weeks to slowly migrate out.  Give it time.

Edit:  The rubbing alcohol was not a good idea but it's not corrosive.  What you get in a drugstore/chemists is isopropanol and distilled water.  It's not a good conductor; the main danger is that its mild solvent and de-greasing properties may dislodge some other crap inside.

Athletic "rubbing alcohol" concoctions may have all sorts of stuff in them.  Pump up your drive with steroids.


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## 2048Megabytes

I once dropped a flash drive outside in the snow.  It stayed outside in the snow for at least ten days.  Someone I knew found it and gave it back to me.  I let it sit around for several days in my closet to dry out.  It is still working presently.


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## Dngrsone

The drive is toast.

As someone mentioned, it's a matter of letting the unit sit out and dry over the course of several days, allowing all the moisture to migrate out.

Isopropyl would not harm the electronics, though there may be some effect on the plastic case.

Laundry detergents generally contain salts and other electrolytic chemicals that do conduct well, and so even a small amount of laundry water would cause a lot of corrosion when power is applied to electronics.

Your best bet when dousing a piece of electronics with any liquid is to flush it with clean water (distilled best) and then blow it dry with forced air if you can find it.  You can get 90% isopropyl in most drug stores and that can help evaporate water away as well.  Allow the electronics to dry out thoroughly, several days at least.  Whatever time you think is enough, double it; if you value the electronic item and/or the data on it, then it's worth waiting a few more days.


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## PohTayToez

dtiao7eb said:


> i'm no expert...but i think the swooshing in rubbing alcohol... might not be a great idea no? with the case... didn't u effectively soak it in alcohol? rubbing alcohol is corrosive...probably ate the rest of ur drive...



Rubbing alcohol is most definitely not corrosive.  I do all sorts of electronics repair, not just computers, and I've used it to clean boards from iPods, laptops, cameras, cell phones and more.


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## Dngrsone

'Rubbing alcohol' (at least in the US) is generally 70% isopropyl, though as I mentioned, you can get 90% isopropyl in many stores as well.


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## Troncoso

I'm enlightened by this. What purpose does having ubuntu on a flash drive? is it for portability purposes, or does having it in a flash drive help it to run faster? ...I think I might take my extra pc and make it a dedicated linux machine for programming....though, it wouldn't help me to much with C++.... Sorry to jack the thread. I think it's toast as well. I personally would have taken the casing off. Then again, I always go for the cheapest drives so they easily break off on their own.


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## Gooberman

He used it at school so i couldn't mess with him  Our school lets you boot from portable devices


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## Dngrsone

Gooberman said:


> He used it at school so i couldn't mess with him  Our school lets you boot from portable devices



I had a thumb drive with DSL on it for a while so I could do stuff on work computers.

I also used portable firefox for the similar reasons-- one, I hate IE, and two , I could configure my browser the way I wanted it to be more productive.  Having a Linux console in my desktop helped me to do certain editing work.


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## Gooberman

Well I don't think you can have DSL(unless it's some kind of freaky drive/modem xD) on a drive as it uses your telephone line it was most likely a wireless provider

btw, i love firefox portable


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## voyagerfan99

Gooberman said:


> btw, i love firefox portable



I used Firefox for U3 off my flash drive in high school religiously because those computers ran Windows (2000 for god knows what reason) and IE6.


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## Dngrsone

Gooberman said:


> Well I don't think you can have DSL(unless it's some kind of freaky drive/modem xD) on a drive as it uses your telephone line it was most likely a wireless provider
> 
> btw, i love firefox portable



DSL is a 50MB Linux distribution designed to fit a business card CD.


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## Gooberman

Well DSL is mostly known as Digital Subscriber Line xD


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## kobaj

Dngrsone said:


> DSL is a 50MB Linux distribution designed to fit a business card CD.



I thought DSL was small till my friend showed me TinyCore. 10mb!!

EDIT: sorry to thread jack, but its pretty apparent the guys drive is toast...


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