Flash drives are incredibly useful devices that conveniently allow individuals, from businessmen to college students, to transfer data and information in a very easy way. These devices go by a variety of names such as jump drive, thumb drive, and USB drive, flash drive, jump stick, just to name a few. These devices can often fit in your pocket and store anywhere from a couple hundred megabytes to a full terabyte! They are extremely popular due to their portability and easy operation. These versatile tools, if kept in good condition, are very reliable but over time, can still experience some technical failures.
How to Avoid Flash Drive Failure
Just like any machine, flash drives can degrade over time as the inner mechanisms are written, read, and erased time and time again. However, most flash drives can withstand thousands and thousands of usages before experiencing difficulties. In order to completely avoid this issue, it may be a good idea to use multiple flash drives or replace your flash drive every couple years to avoid excessive wear and tear.
Ways that Flash Drives Can Be Damaged
The most common way these gadgets and the data they carry can be damaged is by improperly ejecting the device from a computer or taking the device out while the data is still being modified. This can leave the data on the flash drive incomplete and tamper with the memory systems of the flash drive, causing it to be less effective in the future. It is also recommended that the information stored on the flash drive be backed up so that failures are not catastrophic. There is even specialized software that may be purchased that will automatically back-up any information input to your computer from a flash drive into a specific folder on your PC. This makes it quick and easy to make sure that your information is safely stored in multiple locations.
Another common way to damage these devices is exposure to water or static electricity. As a result, it is important to store them in safe, dry places when not actively in use and to never expose them to water (as with any electrical device).
A third common form of damage is physical damage to the drive itself. One may set their computer on the ground with the flash drive still input, forget, and accidentally kick the flash component while still inserted. This may cause the casing to bend and/or break in the computer. To avoid this, properly eject your jump drive prior to closing your laptop. This ensures all data is written to the drive and the device is then safely removed and stored in a safe place.
Recovering Data from a Damaged Flash Drive
While flash drives may look sturdy, many of the components are actually quite fragile. It is important to treat these devices with care because even if the connector port becomes slightly bent it may not be able to access data properly. If this is the case, the data is still often recoverable if the solder runs and pads are repaired or the memory chip’s information is directly read by an external memory reader.
Many data recovery specialists offer these flash repair services. It is advisable to contact a professional rather than attempting repairs on your own because flash drive recovery is difficult and if not done perfectly, the data could be damaged permanently and become unrecoverable.
These commonly used devices can often fail without warning, so again it is extremely important to make sure that they are always properly backed up. Additionally, if flash drives are used and cared for appropriately they are unlikely to give you any trouble. However, if you do experience any issues and need jump drive recovery assistance please do not hesitate to reach out to flash drive recovery experts as many companies have extensive expertise and equipment for this purpose.