Broken and panicking!
November 16, 2010 9:03 AM Subscribe
Is there any hope for my broken USB stick?
It literally snapped in half, I have no idea how.
Here is a pic: http://img.makeupalley.com/0/8/3/9/1809508.JPG
Am I screwed or is it possible to recover the data?
It literally snapped in half, I have no idea how.
Here is a pic: http://img.makeupalley.com/0/8/3/9/1809508.JPG
Am I screwed or is it possible to recover the data?
Worth noting the recovery company I found in a google has a 'No Data, No Charge' policy, so you've got nothing to lose if they can't get your data for you. That said, they quote a price range from $400 - $2000 CAD, so up to you, really.
posted by Happy Dave at 9:29 AM on November 16, 2010
posted by Happy Dave at 9:29 AM on November 16, 2010
Most places I know of charge several hundred just to look at the drive, with no guarantees they can recover anything.
It comes down to how much the data is worth to you. Data recovery is not cheap to begin with, and if it involves soldering chips to new boards or anything like that, the price just goes up higher and higher.
posted by jjb at 9:41 AM on November 16, 2010
It comes down to how much the data is worth to you. Data recovery is not cheap to begin with, and if it involves soldering chips to new boards or anything like that, the price just goes up higher and higher.
posted by jjb at 9:41 AM on November 16, 2010
Most places I know of charge several hundred just to look at the drive, with no guarantees they can recover anything.
I'm going to respectfully disagree with this opinion. The several hundred to look at a drive is in respect to hard drives, as they must be opened in a clean room. Flash drives are not under this requirement.
The circuit board is definitely snapped. It will take a good soldering hand and probably in the range of $150-250 for a possible data recovery.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 9:47 AM on November 16, 2010
I'm going to respectfully disagree with this opinion. The several hundred to look at a drive is in respect to hard drives, as they must be opened in a clean room. Flash drives are not under this requirement.
The circuit board is definitely snapped. It will take a good soldering hand and probably in the range of $150-250 for a possible data recovery.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 9:47 AM on November 16, 2010
Buy a few flash drives that are identical to the broken one, and make friends with a soldering expoert. Get them to remove the memory chip from the broken drive and transplant it into the new identical flash drive.
posted by gregr at 11:44 AM on November 16, 2010
posted by gregr at 11:44 AM on November 16, 2010
From the picture, it looks like the circuit board snapped in a fairly fixable place, as far as circuit board snaps go. Could you get a closer up picture of the broken off piece of board, from both sides? From the picture you posted, it looks like there may be very few components or wire traces affected - looks like just the connector, and a couple of capacitors/small passive components are on the one side. If that is the case, it may be a fairly fixable situation. But if it's any worse than that, it would be a big job.
If you take some closer up/better quality pictures from me, from both sides, I can let you know how hard it will be to solder it up well enough to recover the data. If it looks reasonable, you can mail it to me and I'll try to fix it for you for cheap (although I'd offer no guarantees). I've had multiple jobs where I'd spend many hours soldering very small things, and what I would probably do if it looks feasible is solder small wires between the broken sides, fixing it long enough to get the data off. The data would have to be fairly important for this to be worthwhile.
If you're interested, MeMail me some better pictures and we can talk.
posted by Diplodocus at 11:53 AM on November 16, 2010
If you take some closer up/better quality pictures from me, from both sides, I can let you know how hard it will be to solder it up well enough to recover the data. If it looks reasonable, you can mail it to me and I'll try to fix it for you for cheap (although I'd offer no guarantees). I've had multiple jobs where I'd spend many hours soldering very small things, and what I would probably do if it looks feasible is solder small wires between the broken sides, fixing it long enough to get the data off. The data would have to be fairly important for this to be worthwhile.
If you're interested, MeMail me some better pictures and we can talk.
posted by Diplodocus at 11:53 AM on November 16, 2010
PS gregr's idea is also feasible, although if the flash chip has solder pads underneath it (BGA-style) this would be very difficult to do by hand without special tools. If the pins are exposed, this could be done fairly easily.
posted by Diplodocus at 11:55 AM on November 16, 2010
posted by Diplodocus at 11:55 AM on November 16, 2010
This answer might be helpful
As an electrical engineer with pretty good soldering skills, I would say that the USB drive looks like toast, all you can hope to do is recover the data. For that you want an expert that can remove the flash IC and read it.
posted by Long Way To Go at 1:14 PM on November 16, 2010
As an electrical engineer with pretty good soldering skills, I would say that the USB drive looks like toast, all you can hope to do is recover the data. For that you want an expert that can remove the flash IC and read it.
posted by Long Way To Go at 1:14 PM on November 16, 2010
From the looks of the snapped location on the circuit board, I'd say you could have enough area to solder on just the USB connection to a new USB connector. One-time thing, Get the data off, put it on a new stick. You might not have to move the chip.
posted by Drasher at 8:21 PM on November 16, 2010
posted by Drasher at 8:21 PM on November 16, 2010
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Here's one local to you. Give them a call and get a quote, then weigh that against the value of your data.
And get multiple USB sticks and backup sources, they are stupid cheap these days (here in the UK you can get a 4Gb drive for under £10). You should not be keeping your sole copy of anything on a loseable, trouser-pocket washable, breakable, removable USB stick.
posted by Happy Dave at 9:27 AM on November 16, 2010