Patent ID: 7576990

Claim:
A flash-memory drive comprising: an upper case; a lower case; a printed-circuit board assembly (PCBA) that comprises: a circuit board having wiring traces; a plurality of flash-memory chips mounted to the circuit board; a controller chip mounted to the circuit board, the controller chip having a input/output interface circuit for interfacing to an external computer, and a processing unit for accessing the plurality of flash-memory chips in response to commands from the external computer received by the input/output interface circuit; and a connector mounted to the circuit board, for connecting the controller chip to the external computer; wherein the upper case is attached to the lower case during assembly with the PCBA between the upper case and the lower case, with the connector passing through an opening between the upper case and the lower case, the upper and lower cases encapsulating the circuit board, wherein the plurality of flash-memory chips are block-addressable and not randomly-addressable; a conductive pin that contacts the upper case and contacts ground traces the circuit board, wherein the ground traces connect to a chassis ground through the connector when the connector is connected to the external computer; wherein the conductive pin comprises a primary axis and a secondary axis that are substantially parallel to and offset from each other and substantially perpendicular to a plane of the circuit board; wherein conductive pin contacts the upper case along the primary axis; wherein the conductive pin contacts the circuit board around an alignment hole that is centered about the secondary axis, whereby the conductive pin has primary and secondary axes.