USB Key Recovery Question

[SeanMcP]

All,

 

A friend has come to me with a 2GB Lexar USB key that worked when he unplugged it from PC A this week, and then was dead when plugged into PCs B, C, D etc. It has had no 'physical damage' nor was it washed, etc. It simply quit working between plug-ins a few hours apart. Neither Linux, Mac nor Windows seem to detect the presence of the device. While it's not mission-critical data he has on it (and thus he's not wanting to go to the possibly crazy expense of sending it to a proper recovery company like DriveSavers) it is quite a bit of personal data and school work he is going to miss. I thought given the number of electrical wizards we have that someone might want to take a few minutes and take a quick look at the leads inside the key to look for obvious trace-lifting, or even try transplanting the flash chip onto another donor USB key. I'm pretty sure it's beyond my skill level, tho, since I figure it's fairly sensitive to mis-applying heat, etc. I can't find an exact match as the key is quite old, but I'll happily find and donate a few 2GB drives in the hopes one will provide a suitable corpse :) Anyone bored enough sometime in the next few weeks to want to spend a few minutes testing/desoldering/resoldering on something for a bit of good karma?

 

Sean