I have a bunch of usb thumb drive blanks what to do with - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: nrgeek
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2012, 05:27:18 pm
content: I received a bunch of thumb drive samples, from a wholesaler that screen prints your logo etc on them for promotional stuff.. these drives look functional, but dont have any chips in them just the usb plug and pcb .. I was wondering what to do with them .. Ive tried to find the flash mem chips to solder to them but cant find a source for themthey should be useful for something, and I know the drives are cheap to buy functional ones..I just hate to toss them lol .. Im a pack rat by nature .. it takes all my will power not to stop at the local transfer station daily to see how many lcd tv's I can bring home to repair or old stuff to scavenge parts from lol

author: slateraptor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2012, 06:52:52 pm
content: Quote from: nrgeek on January 31, 2012, 05:27:18 pmWe'll, there's your problem.Put 'em up on eBay. *shrug*

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2012, 10:08:26 pm
content: Quote from: slateraptor on January 31, 2012, 06:52:52 pmThat way, another pack rat can pick them up. *smiles*

author: kiyotewolf
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2012, 01:36:58 am
content: Put them on ebay, link me to the auction, I'm 99% sure I'll buy them, or at least a batch of them.I taught my daughter a teeny tiny bit of electronics stuff, hacking a USB cable off a piece of junk, and hooking the red & black wires to the two white ones of a tiny (xmas light looking) bulb from Radio Shack.~PaulCould teach her soldering next, doing same thing, except with those little boards, and some LED's.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2012, 01:46:59 am
content: Drill a hole in the case, solder some wires, and you have a USB plug.

author: nitro2k01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2012, 03:51:41 am
content: Just to be clear, are there no ICs on the board, or is there something that looks like a controller chip, but an empty footprint for a flash chip? If the former, the chip is a flash chip with an integrated USB controller which may or may not be very proprietary. If the latter, it might accept standard flash chips. One thing you could try is find similar USB sticks on eBay or similar and crack them open and look for the part number, and hope the manufacturer didn't scrape it away.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2012, 12:18:04 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on February 03, 2012, 01:46:59 amBy far the most sensible answer,real thumb drives are so cheap,there is hardly any point in trying to make dummy ones work!VK6ZGO

author: nrgeek
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2012, 06:18:35 am
content: yep no chips at all just bare board, with screen print layout, and I know I can buy them cheap.. that's not the point.. just something to play with that's the point, and maybe I can make them for less than I can buy complete ?Sheesh .. Im not trying to re-invent the wheel, just put rubber on a bare steel wheel.Yall on here get way too carried away about the stupid stuff.. its just something id like to see if I could source out the parts for.. and build my own .. practice if you will.and I thought maybe I could incorporate these into some other project .. just thought Id ask , apparently none of y'all have ever seen a bare USB drive, with no chips lolLike nitro2k01 said buy one on ebay just like it and get chip numbers .. sounds like a plan

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2012, 10:58:21 am
content: Then you'll need the controller and its supporting discretes (usually a crystal, capacitors, and a few resistors) as well as flash. Not cheap in small quantities.If you post pictures of it we might be able to identify the controller it's designed for and related info. The brand-your-own drives tend to be based on several really common reference designs.Data recovery people might want to buy them too, for remounting etc.