Do not wash your USB key...

[Mark_88]

I gave my niece a USB key for Christmas a few years ago and it was a good thing for her...until she put it through the washing machine...

I didn't think it would harm it too much since it is RAM...but I've had some difficulty with it...borrowed it from her to upgrade her MSN (mine got lost in a returned fanny pack so I have to buy another) and it would not read the drive...after playing around with it I finally got it to read and write...but it's not normal...

I'm going to stuff it into a dehumidifier over night to see if that makes it better...but just thought I'd let everyone know they are not machine washable...

[fastpakr]

Typically when something like that gets wet, the best solution is to put it in a bowl of rice for a few days. Probably too late in your case.

I had a bluetooth earpiece survive a bout with the washer and dryer a few months back. Amazingly, it still works perfectly.

[Nhaz]

Since it got wet you may want to have a close look at its contacts in the USB plug. They may have minor amounts of corrosion on them. Even minor amounts can cause strange errors.

Its possible there is some conductive residue from the soap. Which maybe causing a intermittent short. Normally you wouldn't see a problem with this. but memory is pretty sensitive stuff.

Oddly, I suggest. Rinse it off in distilled water. Why distilled? Distilled will form a solution with what ever is causing the short easier and faster then regular water and then rinse away. Then get it dry. the rice works good => so does a hair dryer. Just don't melt anything.

If that doesn't work then its probably damaged too badly from the shorting.

[Mark_88]

Never tried rice before to dry something, but I do have a few packets of that silica stuff that you find in electronic goods boxes...plus I have a dehumidifier for my hearing aid...eh?

I got it to store the files I wanted to transfer, but the computer still has a bit of difficulty finding the removable storage...I have to wiggle it around and move it in and out of the slot a few times before it actually sees the drive properly...so it does work...

Then I left it in the dehumidifier over night but it still has a problem seeing the drive...

I had a look at the contacts in the end of the plug...they are so small but I can see shiny metal...so I don't think I'm going to do any more in case I damage something else...it works...just not as instantly as it should...and that danged error message keeps popping up and interrupting my wiggle...

Oh, well...lesson learned...thanks for the input...:)

[Chris.S.]

Yup, bowl of rice trick works well for any electronics that get wet-I saved my cell phone once with it after an unfortunate incident involving my hoody pocket spitting my phone into a toilet....

[Mark_88]

Yup, bowl of rice trick works well for any electronics that get wet-I saved my cell phone once with it after an unfortunate incident involving my hoody pocket spitting my phone into a toilet....

Dang, I hate when that happens...:)

[Chris.S.]

Dang, I hate when that happens...:)

Yup, glad it was before I'd filled the bowl....

[sbsumerix]

i washed my flash drive before and it worked fine and its one of the cheapo ones