USB drive that looked totally dead came back after 20 minutes in front of a space heater
A client dropped off a 64GB SanDisk at my bench in Portland that showed zero in Disk Management and wouldn't spin up on any of my three test rigs. On a hunch I set it about a foot from a small space heater for 20 minutes, and it mounted right away with all her tax files intact. I pulled everything off it that afternoon and told her to buy a new one, but I'm curious if anyone has a less sketchy method for cold solder joints on these things.
That "space heater trick" is basically the same thing as when my old phone only charged if I held the cable at a weird angle, it works for now but you're on borrowed time. Heat makes metal expand a tiny bit, so cold solder joints can touch again, but it's a band aid, not a fix. Cold solder reflow with a proper iron is the real answer, just gotta watch you don't cook the board.