These are the only jobs we do here where a week's wait will change the answer. Corrosion does not cease once the moisture has dried off the drive, but instead continues to eat away at the board until all residues have been removed from the drive's surface area. We usually see more damage from a month in a carrier bag than what occurred during the fire and/or flooding.
All drives that have experienced either water or smoke exposure are in an unstable condition. Any mineral or contaminant carried by water begins corroding contacts and trace lines on the board instantly upon initial contact, and this process of corrosion and deterioration will continue for as long as the drive remains wet. Additionally, a fire leaves acidic soot residue that works more aggressively to corrode both contacts and trace lines on the board.
Therefore, the time frame you need to be most concerned about is not the date of the incident itself, but rather how quickly after the incident the damaged drive is received at a laboratory. Every single day that passes prior to receiving the drive at a lab is another day in which chemical degradation continues to occur within the electronic components.
During that window, the single worst thing you can do is apply electrical power to the drive while it is still wet: this will cause current flow in areas where there is no current supposed to exist, creating short circuits and converting a contamination issue into a burnt one. Using heat to dry out a wet board is the second worst. Heat causes contaminants that may have accumulated on the surface of the components to become baked on, and heat causes components to warp.
Send it wet. This may seem like the opposite of what you would want to do; however, this is absolutely right. A wet drive that arrives here without ever being turned on is much better for your purposes than a drive that has been dried out over a radiator and subsequently powered. Seal the drive in a plastic bag (with a little of the water it was originally immersed in, if it was submerged) and send it.
The drive is opened and evaluated on the bench prior to any power being applied to it. If there is evidence of contamination on the surface of the platter(s), it will need cleaning. This is a very delicate procedure as the magnetic layer coating on each platter is measured in microns in thickness and contaminants accumulate above the layer.
Boards which have corroded are cleaned and, where component failures occur in them, the adaptive ROM (read-only memory) is moved to a compatible substitute. Water-damaged head assembly units almost always need to be exchanged for replacements instead of attempting to clean them, due to the unreliability of removing contaminants within the head gimbals.
Then it will be necessary to image the data contained upon the platters, usually in segments over multiple imaging sessions rather than in an uninterrupted single session. This is due to a repaired water-damaged drive not being a stable device. Imaging is a function of acquiring what may be acquired from a failing system while it holds together.
Repairing a water-damaged drive or fire-damaged unit is classed as a mechanical repair service and costs from £300 +VAT, agreed after the free assessment and diagnosis. All cleaning, board repairs and/or replacing heads are part of this cost and not charged separately.
A deposit of 50% is required when commencing a repair job, as both labour and parts are committed by us initially. Should your platters turn out to be too damaged to read, we do not charge for the remainder of the repair.
Do not turn this device on or charge it. If possible, remove the battery. Remove your data storage drive and send just that on its own: we will not take delivery of the device itself. Any attempt at powering the unit will only continue to spread the damage across the board.
No. Heat causes contamination to bake onto surfaces, and can also warp sensitive components. Rice has no benefit. Just send it as is, sealed in a bag: wet really is better than dried and tested.
The typical progression of corrosion takes place over a period of weeks. Although the drive continued to function, contact degradation occurred. Most drives are still recoverable; however, recovery success rates decrease with delays in receiving the drive.
The acid created by smoke residues attacks contacts (even when nothing burned) over time. Fire-damaged locations have an increased urgency for recovering drives promptly versus leaving them in service.
More urgent than fresh water. Salt is much more corrosive than fresh, so corrosion will occur at a greater rate. Get it to us as fast as possible; we want it kept wet and sealed.
Frequently, on both business policies and some home policies. A detailed written report is provided to explain the technical details about what happened as well as the work that was done. This will be in an acceptable format for insurance providers, with no additional cost to the customer.
Free written diagnostics for all of our customers, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. And we have a 10,000-part inventory behind each and every one of our repairs. The sooner it gets here the better. Begin your recovery today.