USB Flash Drive Repair

On Aug 10, 8:19 am, spaceaze wrote: > Hi folks, >

I picked up a 1 GIG at Fry's last week for $8 after the rebate. Is it worth the bother or is this to see if it can be done? Often the connector gets damaged and pulls pads / traces off the board. Welcome to the throw away society. Or is there material on the drive you really need to salvage? For salvage purposes you can temporarily 'baby' the connections long enough to read 'one more time'.

GG

The parts used are proprietary. You have to buy a new USB drive. Also, for the price that they sell for, it does not pay to service these.

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JANA _____

My 1 GIG SANS USB Flash Drive is not being recognized by my PC. My grandson stepped on the drive as it was plugged into the PC and I am sure the pins are bent.and pulled off the board. Is there any testing equipment that could read the memory or usb parts site where I could replace the NAND chip and put it on another board?

spaceaze

I tried to answer last night, but my newserver wouldn't let me post. I'll try again....

If there is irreplaceable data on the drive, open it up and see where the damage is. If it's merely the connections to the integral USB, either resolder them, or if the damage is too severe, remove all vestiges of the plug from the board. Examine and repair any other damage to the board. Then cut off the end of a USB cable, prep the wires and solder them to the pads where the original plug was attached.

Get your data off. Throw the whole mess away. Back up more often.

This is MUCH easier than trying to transplant the memory. Take care to use standard anti-static precautions: grounded iron, grounded board, grounded 'you'.

jak