My Reality Bites

How to make your USB flash drive indestructible?

Have you left your thumb drive or flash drive soaked in water or in washing machine unintentionally?

Advantages

The benefits of epoxying a USB flash drive (or any other small USB device) include:

* It becomes virtually indestructible (the only remaining destructible component is the USB connector)
* It becomes waterproof. According to the article of this source (http://dmitrybrant.com/2009/08/27/make-your-usb-flash-drive-indestructible) his flash drive has survived five wash cycles! Of course you have to allow the USB connector to dry completely, but after that, it’s as if nothing happened.
* The epoxy helps dissipate heat from the flash memory and controller chips.
* If the device has an LED, it will make the surrounding epoxy glow, which also looks cool.

Instructions

Here are some brief instructions for encasing your own USB flash drive in epoxy:

Safety first: Make sure you do this in a well-ventilated room, and don’t get any epoxy on your skin or in your eyes. And of course, make sure any data that’s currently on your flash drive is backed up, in case anything “unexpected” happens.

* Take apart your USB flash drive. This is usually as simple as pulling apart the plastic cover that encases the PCB (printed circuit board). Be careful not to damage any of the delicate electronic components that are soldered onto the board. Throw the plastic away. All you should have left is the PCB with a USB connector soldered to it. If you like, you can write your initials on the PCB with a felt-tip pen, so that they’ll be visible through the clear epoxy when you’re finished.
* Mix up some epoxy. I would recommend using two packets of the Hardman epoxy for an average-size USB drive (one for each side of the PCB). I usually mix the epoxy with a popsicle stick, on top of a sheet of aluminum foil. The epoxy must be mixed very thoroughly, or it won’t harden uniformly. However, don’t take too long to mix it, since it will begin to harden very quickly.
* Hold the flash drive by the USB connector, allowing one side of the PCB to face up (you’ll repeat this for the other side), and spread some epoxy right onto the exposed PCB with a popsicle stick (or your tool of choice)! Keep adding epoxy until all the electronic components are completely covered by it, right up to the connector (don’t put any epoxy on or inside the connector itself). Do your best to keep the epoxy well-contained. It can get messy fast.
* Keep holding the flash drive with the epoxied side facing up, so that the epoxy settles evenly throughout the surface of the PCB. If some of the epoxy starts to drip off the edge, let it drip, or scrape off the excess with the popsicle stick. The epoxy creates an exothermic reaction while setting, so it might get a little warm, but don’t be alarmed — it won’t get too hot to touch. Don’t let anything come into contact with the epoxy while it’s setting, so that you’ll get a smooth, glossy surface.
* After holding for a few minutes, the epoxy should harden, at which point you can flip over your flash drive and repeat the procedure on the other side of the PCB.
* When the epoxy on both sides of the PCB has hardened, you’re done! You might want to wait an additional 24 hours for the epoxy to really harden, though.
* Enjoy your flash drive, which is now stronger than ever, looks slick, and is completely impervious to the elements!

Haven't try it myself but do let me know if you had tried it and whether it work or not. Note: Epoxy is available here too but in different label or brand. The picture below shows the epoxy and indestructible flash drive.
Source: http://dmitrybrant.com/2009/08/27/make-your-usb-flash-drive-indestructible

indestructible flash driveepoxy