I bought a USB drive, and it came in a small plastic shell package. Is it safe to assume that this plastic material is anti-static?
I have not yet opened the package, and I left it sitting on the carpet for a while. Then I did some vacuuming, and ran the vacuum cleaner right next to the package.
Assuming that the plastic package is anti-static, would that be enough to prevent the USB drive from being damaged by any static electricity generated from the carpet or the vacuum cleaner?
Why don't you open it and see? Those devices are designed to take quite a lot of abuse. Mine has gone through the washer and dryer several times. What you did is nothing compared to what they go through in transit and stocking.
Tom
most places north of the equator, static is more of a problem during the dried out winters than the muggy summers.
Being that the amount of static that may build up on the packaging is unlikely to kill you, your assumption is safe... however the same case may not be true for the USB drive... although most drives are quite resistant to static damage, you've given us no information about your drive, so we'll assume the worst case. :)
If the package is indeed anti-static, the drive should be relatively safe from static damage, as long as you open it with care, that is, ground yourself before opening the package! Touch a grounded (bare) metal object for a few seconds before opening the package and you should be safe.
If it is not, the package may have accumulated some charge which should be dissapated before you open it. Try touching a grounded metal object while touching the package for a few seconds... that should take care of most of any charge on the package.
No.
I carry my usb drive in my watch pocket in my jeans... no cover, no retractible connector, no special handling. Works fine. The active pins are nicely recessed inside the metal shell. They thought about this.
John
My USB stick lives in a pocket with various other junk (keys etc), the protective cap frequently falls off - its been carried about in my pocket for over a year and still works fine.
It is not. Static charge is sufficient to cause voltage overstress on some high-impedance MOS devices, but USB doesn't have any connector pins attached to high-impedance circuitry, only to transceivers ( the low impedance of the transceiver output circuit protects the input it's attached to).
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