ean_skxawng
New Member
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.
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.