Impact/Compressive Testing

 The USB flash drives were tested for resistance against crushing or impact by being run over.
The drives were placed in a line and then run over by a bicycle, a car at idle speed, and then later a car at 30 mph.

These tests yielded the most damage to the flash drives. 3 out of the four flash drive USB connectors were bent when run over by the vehicle at idle speed. Bending them back into shape with a screwdriver allowed them to work. The same damage was done by the car at 30 mph, only greater, beyond repair.

Sand, Dirt & Mud Testing

To test the USB flash drives as if they had been dropped outdoors or at the beach I performed a test where all the flash drives were buried in sand, dirt and mud, separately. After each test the drives were cleaned off with a compressed air dust cleaner and a paper towel. All of the drives passed the transfer tests without any problems

Drop Testing

Testing of the USB flash drives continues with drop testing.

All five flash drives were dropped from a height of 3 feet, 6 feet, 8 feet, and off a roof at ten feet. All drops were onto a hard brick surface. Between each height the drive was tests for functionality.

None of the drops caused any real damage to any of the flash drives aside from some physical cosmetic scratches to the casing. All of the flash drives passed every transfer test after the drop from each height.

Hot and Cold Temperature Testing

The high and low temperature testing was finished a couple weeks ago. The low temperature testing was done by putting the flash drives in the freezer at a temperature of 20 degrees Fahrenheit for six hours. After the six hour period the flash drives were removed, left to defrost for 24 hours, and then tested for functionality. All five flash drives transferred files properly and without any problems.

The high temperature testing was done in a small counter top oven set to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The flash drives were left at this temperature for approximately four hours then  left for twenty four hours to cool down. All five flash drives passed the transfer test with no problem and none of the information on the flash drive was corrupt.

-JS

 

Flash Drives Received

The flash drives finally arrived today. Testing will begin ASAP.

I will also try to put up some photos of the flash drives and a list of the brands, models and capacities in the next few days. The functionality of all the drives will be verified before the durability testing begins.

More coming soon.....

Proposal

The project proposal is finished and posted on the 'project details' page. Take a look at it if you'd like. If there are any other ideas for tests that I should include or maybe a common mode of failure USB flash drives that I should try and simulate please let me know.

The flash drives are going to be ordered in the next couple of days and as soon as they arrive I will begin testing. More to come soon.

Thanks,
Justin

Initial Project Posting

This is the first posting of this blog covering my senior design project. So far I have determined that I'm going to be testing a few different brands of usb flash drives for their durability and then reporting on my findings.

As a person who goes to school for a technical major, I use computers quite often for my school work. Whether it's email, working in groups for a project, submitting assignments online, or transferring files to be printed. One of the important, yet underestimated, computer accessories in my opinion is the usb flash drive. They're small, relatively large capacity (for most office suite, music, or image files), and are solid state so there is no risk of ruining internal moving parts as in a traditional hard drive. However, they must have a breaking point.

I'm a surfer, rock climber, runner, soccer player and cyclist and just general love being in the outdoors and/or being active. This can sometimes be detrimental to my electronics. For example, a few years ago i carried around a 1gb usb flash drive on my key chain and after only a few months the cover had come off and been lost and it eventually stopped working. I can only assume it was from the impact of being on my key chain 24/7 or from debris that may have gotten on the contact surface since losing the cap.

That being said, the testing I will be doing will be 'real world' testing. I will put these flash drives into situation that could actually occur and probably do on a regular basis.

Right now, I'm still writing my proposal and report, but it will be posted here when done.

Stay tuned for more information.