I've never broken a flashdrive yet, but only because I've been careful not to. I agree that they should be designed to prevent breakage if they're hit accidently. Instead of a hinge, it might be better to use a flexible rubber neck to connect the plug to the body of the device. This would allow it to bend safely in any direction. It would also be easier to pass the wires though it than a hinge. However, if you want to be able to leave the drive connected in a case, then a hinge might be the better choice. Keeping a rubber piece bent for long periods can damage it.

The basic idea is to leave the pen drive unattended. The portionwhere you have the usb male socket could have a hinge or ainnovative approach is to have it flush on to the side of thelaptop(Laptop Companies are you keep ears wide open).

The whole point of a pen drive is to provide a memory device that fits conveniently in your pocket. It isn't intended to be left plugged in. Your laptop already has a built-in hard drive for that.

What may convenient in the pocket may not be convenient in alaptop. We need a pen drive which is both convenient to carry in our pockets and at the same time fits snugly andergonomically into a laptop.

I'd go about this with a different tack.

I'd make a recessed USB socket so the thumb drive can be inserted with no damage to it.

Yes, I also thought about having the USB port set at the end of a recess in the side of the laptop, so the drive wouldn't stick out when plugged in. The disadvantage with that is that the port would only work with drives that fit in the recess. Nothing's perfect.