To repair a broken USB flash drive

Here is how to repair your broken drive!
Its quite simple if you know how to soldering and some chip design.
This is not the first time, I break a USB Drive. And I already heard some people complaining about the same stuff. But how is this possible? Even if I use it a lot, memory and micro-controller are robust you know, no special reason for a failure (except of course some anormal write, but this is not the case here)

I decided to open this little key, to look closely. After a quick look, I didn’t find anything. So this little PCB stuff was laying on me desk, and people play with it. After a couple of weeks, I discover the memory chip is simply de-solder. My friend at work play so much with it, the failure is now apparent. Nice no ?

http://gallery.techarena.in/data/519/pen_drive.jpg

Hum, this little TQFN chip will be hard to solder, that’s right. But this is do-able no ? I tried this with a small soldering iron and here the result:

http://gallery.techarena.in/data/519/pen_drive1.jpg

nd yes, the key works fine right now ;) That’s fine no ? I definitively won’t trust this drive enought to store important document, but fine for a couple of mp3, or other..

Hey thanks a lot Ekavir for this tip even i was having an issue with my USB some time back & was unaware of the internal structure.
Thanks for the guide.

Where do you find a jack to use to make this repair?

The USB port has broken completely off of my flash drive. I have a Kingston Datatraveler 16GB.

Does anyone know a supplier for this USB jack so that I can buy it and fix it myself? I think it is a Type A Male USB jack.

I found a supplier on ebay that sells them but I want to try and buy from a reseller. Does anyone know the exact Specifications for this jack so that I can buy with confidence from a supplier?

the usb on my drive is broken. I placed into the port and it just stayed there... I still had the rest of the drive in my hand.

can it be fixed??

i have some really important info on it that i need! what do i do??

PLEASE HELP ME

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChrisyB

I placed into the port and it just stayed there... I still had the rest of the drive in my hand.

can it be fixed??

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Dont worry mate,, its not dead. You can get back your data but it is not also so easy. The broken piece that is USB connector has nothing that can loose your data from the drive. If you can find exactly the duplicate copy of the one you have, you can re-assemble it and it can work, atleast to backup your data.:thumbup1:

am having a problem with my pendrive. when i open or explore it, shows the device don't contain any media.
can you help me?

First make sure your pendrive is not damaged. Try to plug it on any another computer. If it is working there than plug it in your system and open Device Manager and under 'Disk drives' and find the entry pertaining to your USB. Once found, right click the same and click on uninstall. Now at the top, click on 'Scan for hardware changes' and restart the computer after the scanning is finished. After the restart, try to access your pendrive.

Thank you so much for your instructions. Can you use just a regular cheap soldering tool? Mine is the typical kind but it seems to be large for the tiny usb wires.

I do not know how to solder. Can anyone rocinmend someone who i can have repair my broken flash drive for a reasonable price.