Could I use a cut USB cable?

[JackMacWindows]

Hello,
I found an internal card reader in a pile of old PC parts. The cable coming out the back says it is a USB 2.0 cable on the side, but the end is cut off. It has four colored shielded wires (red, green, black, white) and about 10 unshielded wires. Is there any way I could connect this to a USB port?

JackMacWindows

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You can do that, and it might even work, but cable tolerances for high speed data transmission are delicate - chances are pretty good you'd have noise, dropped connections, data loss, etc., on the cable you make yourself.

Unless you're actually surprisingly good at soldering on connectors. But for the average Joe Blow, no.