The Memory Stick Massacre

Many of our customers have accumulated a drawer full of USB memory sticks, most of them broken. When I say broken, I mean they no longer function as they should, rather than being simply smashed to bits.

Is this memory stick massacre necessary? Are they of such poor design that they inherently stop working after a few weeks?

The answer to both questions is no. By taking a few simple precautions, you could extend the life of your memory sticks considerably and save some money into the bargain.

Memory sticks require power (5 volts) and it gets this from the USB slot. Each time the stick is inserted and withdrawn, a tiny arc of current is formed across the contacts. Under normal circumstances, this has little effect on the electronics within, but when the stick is withdrawn whilst being written to, the arc is powerful enough to short across the neighboring contacts. The result...a blown memory stick! 

If that last paragraph made you glaze over, it doesn't matter. Just follow these few guideline for extended memory stick life:

1) Always use the 'Safely Remove Hardware' feature on the bottom right of the screen, near the clock.

2) Never remove a memory stick whilst it's still writing or receiving information.

3) Never use a faulty memory stick after it has failed. It could kill the USB socket. Throw it away.

4) Always make sure the memory stick is pushed fully into the socket.

5) Blown USB sticks will rarely work normally again. Don't collect them, recycle them responsibly at your local recycling facility.

6) Always make a backup of your memory stick information.

7) And finally, if you have a faulty memory stick with information on it that needs to be recovered, don't keep putting it into different pc's or laptops to see if it might magically spring into life....it won't, and you might destroy the information beyond recovery. Take it to a reputable Data Recovery company like PC Partners to be assessed.