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I’m Good Like That
By Mike | October 19, 2007
Originally uploaded by MikeOliveri.
Would you believe I still recovered data off of this thing?
Our high school guidance counselor came to me with the remains of her USB flash drive in a plastic Zip-Lock bag. She said she’d accidentally sucked it into the vacuum (the brush caught the lanyard flash drive was attached to) and of course there was a lot of data on there she really, really needed. Specifically, pictures her daughter had taken for graduation and were not backed up anywhere else.
I was skeptical, but I told her I’d give it a shot (I’m good like that). When I first hooked it up, I got a green light but there was no reading the data. I took a closer look, and found that one of the components had been knocked off. It had corresponding contact points on the circuit board, so I held it on there and pinched the two pieces together between my thumb and forefinger.
Then I held my breath, hoped I wouldn’t get zapped, and plugged it back in.
Voila, the drive was back in business. I copied the files off it, burned them to a CD, and made the counselor very happy. I have a feeling her daughter wouldn’t have been too happy with her if this hadn’t worked. Good thing for her I’m a curious (and stubborn) SOB.
It amazes me what these things can survive. Freezing cold, high drops, car tires, and now vacuum cleaners. Makes me feel a lot better about some of the newer laptops moving to flash-based storage.
Topics: General, Moblog, Tech |