Re: [Hampshire] Fixing a USB stick

On 16/08/10 10:22, Stephen Nelson-Smith wrote:
> One of my colleagues has broken his USB stick - as in physically
> broken the metal bit that goes into the machine. It's snapped off -
> buggered, FUBAR'd. He says there's some data on the USB stick that
> he'd like back, and would be prepared to spend money to retrieve. Any
> idea on whether companies exist that could transplant the bit of the
> stick that has the data on it into a new housing?

Yes there certainly are companies who can do this. The TV show
Brainiac, where they delight in blowing up everything including old
caravans, did a show on data retention some time ago.

They compared a CD, hard drive, and a USB stick. The tortures included
being driven over, some other things, and then being blown up, with
tests after each one. As one might expect, the hard drive failed
first, the CD did not last the course, and the USB disintegrated.

But no! the USB stick debris included the chips and inner circuit
board, which was connected up, and it still DID retain the test file
(an image of itself taken earlier).

I enjoyed the show, and also was quite impressed about usb sticks from
then on!
--
alan cocks
Ubuntu user