USB memory stick been in washing machine...

[Maz]

My trousers have just come out of the washing machine on a 40-celcius 1.5 hour wash and my USB memory stick was in there the whole while. Will the data on the stick be lost? Will the stick be usable again? How can I dry it out?

 

[Kirstie]

It's probably fubar'd. I speak from not one, but many many experiences.

 

[tyred]

Your best chance is to set it on a window ledge and allow to dry out naturally but I wouldn't hold out much hope. I washed a floppy disk once and it survived.

 

[dragon72]

This happened to me this weekend too. It went through a warm wash with my coloureds. The stick came out dry-ish from the final spin. Works fine. I was amazed.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Might as well bung it in the tumble dryer now ...

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

A couple of years ago I dropped my smartphone (a Sony Ericsson P990i) in the water (while it was on), and it looked dead when it was fished out. I followed advice by leaving it to dry in an airing cupboard with battery out; after 4 days it fired up first time perfectly.

Good luck!

 

[Kirstie]

I'll raise you an iPOD nano.
It didn't work after a 40 degree wash cycle...

 

[Aperitif]

You Silly Bugger Maz! Suds law that you forgot your memory, but it may work.
Last week I picked up a pair of binoculars with a heap of washing.After treatment and a spin they still work ok but every time I look at a shop sign it's in bold.

 

[zacklaws]

If it does not work, at least you will not have to worry about the memory stick getting into the wrong hands, the memory will have been "washed" clean.

Leaving it in a warm place for a few days and also surrounding it with some silica gel sachets to absorb the moisture may help.

 

[slowmotion]

It should be absolutely fine if you let it dry for a few days in a warm place. BTW, most electronics will survive a dip in water, as long as you whip out the battery as soon as possible, and let it dry thoroughly. When circuit boards are manufactured, flux residues are removed with a solvent cleaner, and then the boards are immersed in a bath of clean water to rinse them.

 

[BigSteev]

Treat yourself to one of these https://www.ironkey.com/s200 and it stops being a worry.

 

[rh100]

If it still works - I wouldn't rely on it for long - I would suggest copying the data off and getting a new one.

 

[Fnaar]

Is it relevant if it was bio or non-bio?

 

[Maz]

Is it relevant if it was bio or non-bio?

It's a 1GB stick, but I don't know about the BIOS.

 

[Davidc]

I did that before Christmas with a 4GB one - just a dabs cheap one. Full wash and then tumble dried on high for 90 minutes, discovered it when the trousers were on the ironing board.

Worked straight away. There was nothing on it that wasn't also on another drive so didn't have a fit, and I won't rely on it for important data, but it's still working 3 months on!

Good thing there weren't any dirty photos on it - they'd definitely have gone .....