Fix a physically broken USB Thumb Drive

Here's a video of how to fix a physically damaged USB Thumb Drive so you can get the data off it. In this case, it's not a permanent fix as mechanically the device was compromised. It is enough to get the data off it though.

Sometimes the device is more permanently redeemable; in this case, particularly once you have board and physical/mechanical damage, all bets are off for a quick permanent solution, but you can at least get usually the data off it.

This was a USB 2.0 high speed thumb drive. YHou can do the same with a USB 3.0 thumb drive at high speed (rather than super speed) by making the same four connections. To get super speed (5Gbps) you'd need to do quite a bit more work, and take much more care of your work, as the speeds dictate controlled impedance over quite short distances to maintain signal integrity.

I used a 0.2mm tip on a Weller WP80 iron at 350 deg C from a WMD-3 station. Solder is 0.5mm dia. 60/40 full fat. Solder wick was 0.8mm. Coffee is decaf ;-)

Camera is Panasonic Lumix GH5 with Olympus 60mm macro lens.

I'm looking through a separate binocular zoom microscope to perform the work.