Have you ever laundered a thumb drive?

[mwalimu54]

My Lexar 128 MB thumb drive has survived four trips through the laundry and still works well. Can anyone top this and do a little free advertising for thumb drive manufacturers?

[speedwell68]

Yeah, I have a 512mb Sandisk that has been through a washer and dryer. It still works fine.:D

[TBOL3]

Can't top it. But I did wash a pink 1gb thumb drive I got from a conference. I thought I ruined it when I put it into a computer, until I realized that it was a really old computer, and incompatible with thumb drives anyway.

[frup]

I have a 1GB Samsung that I have put through the wash several times. No damage to it whatsoever. It does have a cap which stops the usb connector actually getting wet though, which might be helpful. The first time I did it I was really worried I may have lost the data, these days I'm not too concerned. For some reason, maybe the shape and size, this is the only one of about seven thumb drives I have done this to. I do not believe the others would fare as well but this thread gives me encouragement.

[cariboo]

I had a 256MB Lexar that got washed regularily, I would say at least a couple of dozen times. It finally died when the dog decided to play with it.

Jim

[reprobus]

I have a 1 gig lexar that got washed. I let it dry and it worked fine.

[gletob]

I have an LG 1gb drive that's been washed once and it works fine and I have a Sandisk 256mb sd card that's been washed 10-15 times and is still kicking.

[p_quarles]

I think in most cases, water doesn't damage electronic equipment unless there's actually a current while the equipment is wet. So, if it's plugged in and running, chances are something can be irreperably damaged. A USB thumb drive in the wash, though, will be dried out by the time you use it again. I'd say this should hold true of pretty much any electronic device.

[chris4585]

I think everyone will do this at least once, I can say I have, and it worked.

[K.Mandla]

I think in most cases, water doesn't damage electronic equipment unless there's actually a current while the equipment is wet. So, if it's plugged in and running, chances are something can be irreperably damaged.
That has been my experience. I once picked up four laptops that had sat overnight in the rain. I dried them out with a fan over the course of a day and they all worked perfectly, no damage at all.

[amazingtaters]

I think in most cases, water doesn't damage electronic equipment unless there's actually a current while the equipment is wet. So, if it's plugged in and running, chances are something can be irreperably damaged. A USB thumb drive in the wash, though, will be dried out by the time you use it again. I'd say this should hold true of pretty much any electronic device.

Fact. This is why cellphones (god rest my first Kyocera, thing was a tank) that happen to have their battery in don't fare too well in the wash/pool/ocean/sink/etc even if they are off, because there is a source of electricity. Flash drives will indeed be chill if you let them dry out, no matter how wet they got. Heck, a ride through the dryer on the delicates setting might even do the trick.