Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum
As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options

Recovering data from a ruined USB drive?

Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-FedRegistered User regular
in Help / Advice Forum
My boyfriend was in a hit-and-run last night and long story short his USB backup drives got run over and smashed. We desperately need to get the stuff off these. Is there any place we could take these that may be able to do that?

Posts

  • Options
    bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    How smashed are we talking? Got pictures?

    Is it an actual physical drive, or a USB flash drive style thing?

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • Options
    Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    USB flash. I'm not sure how smashed, I haven't seen them yet, sorry.

  • Options
    DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    If the board is intact those things will usually still work. They are surprisingly robust.

    As for the board itself it might be reasonable to repair the connector if only that got damaged but much more than that could be super iffy.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • Options
    bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    Yeah if the circuit board is in tact, it should be relatively painless.

    Hell, you can even plug it in without the outer casing. If the USB connector is all mangled, you can probably reattach it with super super glue and a steady hand. Just make sure the glue in question is non conductive.

    If it's more than that, there's no hope.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • Options
    Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    edited September 2014
    I've seen a pic and while I can't share it they don't look too bad. Is there someplace we can take these to see if they can recover data? I'd rather have someone professional try this than me. The stuff on here is INCREDIBLY important. When they're plugged into a laptop, they light up but the laptop doesn't read them.

    OH found one! www.chipheads.com. I'll give them a try. Jesus I hope this works.

    Magic Pink on
  • Options
    spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User regular
    edited September 2014
    I know you probably don't want to hear this right now, but you should never use a USB stick as your master copy of any document.

    This is what cloud storage is for.

    How is your boyfriend?! Is he OK?

    spool32 on
  • Options
    Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    You're right. I don't want to hear that right now.

This discussion has been closed.
Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum