How it was lost · fire or flood
Most soakings do not touch the platters, and data leaves the fires that destroy the equipment surrounding it. What finishes drives off is what happens next: the hopeful on/off, the radiator, the bag of rice, and waiting, for corrosion begins within hours. Seal it in a bag and obtain a quote first, either via telephone or through the form, then please send your item to us from Exeter today or bring it into our intake laboratory located in Bristol (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed).
Talk it over with an engineer
0800 6890668
| The error | What it usually means | Step one |
|---|---|---|
| Dead ever since the water got in | Water has destroyed your PCB, but there is almost certainly no damage to the platters, as they reside within a sealed environment | Get a quote first, then send it wet, with the drive bagged |
| Trips the plug socket or PSU when connected | Your board is shorting out each time you try this; it's pushing current through the preamp of your drive's head | Do not attempt it again |
| White or green fur growing on the contacts | Corrosion is active. It will continue to spread while you wait | Each hour matters |
| Pulled from a fire, casing intact | The platter chambers are sealed, and burnt boards can be replaced | Treat it very delicately. Never remove the seal |
| Soot around the connectors or breather hole | Grime, abrasives and acids kill the moment the platters spin | Nothing gets cleaned, and nothing gets turned on |
| Went into the sea | Salt water will attack the magnetic layer on the disk directly; that's the very worst type of water you could get | Just keep it wet and sealed up |
Your device will be logged under its own case number on the day it comes into our lab. The engineer who works on your device identifies the problem with it, clearly states what we think has a good chance of coming back and provides you with one fixed quote. There are no charges for this assessment; there is no obligation for you to do anything; and paid work does not begin until you authorise us to start.
Recovered wet media are transported wet (sealed in a plastic bag). Dry out any recovered wet media and the soluble salt will precipitate onto the exposed surface(s). Recovered fire-damaged media are received packaged and have not been disturbed or opened since recovery; the soot remains intact.
The corrosion has been removed, the contact points have been cleaned and a donor PCB has been put in place which includes the original ROM chip for your drive. The new electronics can serve the uncorroded (and thus still usable) platters.
As soon as the cleaning process is completed, the chemical reaction begins to occur once again. Therefore, the drive is immediately imaged. Once an image of the drive is created, the original will never be run again.
You have access to a complete list of every item recovered from your device, which you approve prior to any fees being applied. The files will be returned via new media (brand new) with the return postage paid by us, and the case remains open for as long as it takes to confirm that all the files open properly on your own machine.
All cases for water and fire show the exact same pattern: the result is mostly determined before the parcel gets to the bench, based upon whether the power button was ever pushed, and how fast it travelled. Drives which were never turned on and were posted the same day routinely recover. The one phrase which gives us cold sweats is 'I just tried it quickly': on a wet PCB, that one try is enough to make a board repair into a head repair as well.
Full marks to the owner: no power applied, bagged and still damp, and posted first thing. On the bench we cleaned up the contacts, put a donor board in with the original ROM, and had the whole drive imaged within one week; twenty years of family photos were back, all good.
Usually, as long as you didn't turn it on when it was still wet and you get it into a lab quickly. The water causes most damage to the electronic circuitry and generally doesn't harm the platters. And the electronics can be replaced.
No. There is no way that rice has an effect on sealed electronics. It cannot get inside because it's sealed. Also, rice produces starches and dust, and all the while there is corrosion going on, eating your equipment.
Yes, frequently. The platters are housed in a sealed metal box and a burnt PCB (printed circuit board) is easy to replace. Your real concerns are heat warping the platter(s) and soot getting inside: keep the drive enclosed; do not wash it; do not power it.
A strange piece of advice, but correct: no. Letting things dry out allows the dissolved minerals and salts to form crystals as they spread over all the exposed surfaces. Leave a wet drive sealed in a bag; if it has been submerged in salt water, keep it wet until it's on our bench.
Every time a failing hardware component is powered back up, there is additional lost data. First open a case with us: the inspection (look over) is always at no cost, whichever way it goes.