STEP 1 Diagnose the damage
First, thoroughly examine your USB stick. If the plug is misshapen, be very wary of connecting it to your computer: if it gets stuck, you could seriously damage your PC’s USB port and may need to pay someone to fix it.
If it’s a USB-A device, and only the rectangular metal sleeve that surrounds the contacts is bent, try bending it back into shape using long-nosed pliers (but avoid touching the contacts themselves so as not to scratch them).
The metal sleeve at the end serves two purposes: it protects the contacts and helps keep the USB stick in position when connected – but doesn’t play a role in transferring data. Therefore, even
