help! What to do if you drop your USB in a glass of water

Miacc · 06-02-2009 7:43pm #1

I dropped my sandisk cruzer flash usb in a glass of water yesterds, fished it out, and dried it. i tried it in my computer after this and my comp didnt recognise it but the light was still flashing as usual. now the light is gone and my comp still doesnt recognise it? I had really important files on it that I didnt have backed up!

does anyone who knows about data retrieval or computers have any advice?

advice from people who know what they're talking about much appreciated!
Thanks!

thatoneitguy · 07-02-2009 1:57am

Generally I would say you would be ok if you dried it for a day or two. For the most part, electronics are able to withstand being put in water and if they are allowed to dry fully to prevent possible short circuits, they are ok.

Maybe let it dry a bit longer and try it again. There are data recovery tools available that might be able to recover it. Try RecoverMyFiles. Best of luck.

Kenno90 · 07-02-2009 10:09pm

it's risky but try to crack it along the seem , and but it in the hot press (room where thee boiler is) the crack could let out some moisture , if it works save your files to the computer

Queen-Mise · 07-02-2009 10:11pm

Leave it on a radiator for a day or two. I know someone who put it through a washing machine and it worked again. It took a good few days for it to dry out though

PogMoThoin · 07-02-2009 11:10pm

Leave it somewhere warm for a few days, preferably a week. Dont even think of trying it to see if it still works as it will not blow until its powered up. The same is true for water damage to phones and laptops, if you power them off instantly and leave them u can save them sometimes.

Conor108 · 08-02-2009 2:15pm

Yeah just let it dry out for a while longer and maybe invest in an Ironkey

PogMoThoin · 08-02-2009 2:33pm

Conor108 wrote: »

........maybe invest in an Ironkey

Don't bother with that, get this instead. Waterproof, faster and much, much cheaper. MemoryC Ireland are based in Celbridge.

frag420 · 08-02-2009 2:41pm

dont drink the water!!

Gary ITR · 08-02-2009 2:46pm

Plugging it in was the worst thing you could have done. Leave it somewhere warm (not hot as extreme heat will damage it) for a few days and the see if it'll work

Celtic Mech · 08-02-2009 3:03pm

After trying to dry it out for a day or two...get yourself a can of Servisol. It is very good stuff for switch cleaning and removing moisture in circuits. Hopefully with the combination of drying it out and the Servisol it should do the trick

dolliemix · 08-02-2009 3:09pm

That happened me before. I'd actually given up on it, but a week later I said I'd give it another go and it worked!

Blowfish · 08-02-2009 3:31pm

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Don't bother with that, get this instead. Waterproof, faster and much, much cheaper. MemoryC Ireland are based in Celbridge.

Except it's not encrypted. Both the cruzer and Ironkey are.

PogMoThoin · 08-02-2009 5:01pm

Blowfish wrote: »

Except it's not encrypted. Both the cruzer and Ironkey are.

:rolleyes: http://www.truecrypt.org/

Open source and cross platform. Maybe its not as user friendly as the OP would like but it does the same thing.
Truthfully, I didn't know the Cruzer was encrypted. Anyway we're veering off topic.

I had this weeks ago with my brother in law, He spilled coffee on his laptop. Now I'd regard him as an intelligent guy, but why he turned it back on an hour later to see if it worked is beyond me.

help! What to do if you drop your USB in a glass of water

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