Recovering data from a wet drive

StuntMonkeh · 29 Nov 2012 at 11:20

A friend of mine has had his house flooded (mains water) and his laptop was in its bag on the floor.

He has asked me to try and recover his photos from the drive. Unfortunately no backups!

He said when he got it out of the bag he poured water out of the laptop!

My plan is to put the drive into a bag with some rice to draw as much moisture out as possible and then try and recover using a usb caddie.

Does anyone have further suggestions?

StonedPenguin · 29 Nov 2012 at 11:21

Ley it dry out for a good week before powering it on.

setter · 29 Nov 2012 at 11:54

The rice trick isnt great tbh, stick it in the airing cupboard to dry.

delta0 · 29 Nov 2012 at 11:54

Airing cupboard or somewhere warm will help evaporate the water that will have got inside of it. It might take more than a week to completely dry because the hard drive could hold a lot of water.

wazza300 · 29 Nov 2012 at 11:58

get the hairdryer on it and then leave it for a few weeks to fully dry out,aslong as it hasnt been powered on while wet or damp it should be fine

Weazle · 29 Nov 2012 at 12:00

Get those small moisture absorber packets you find in food/boxes/etc .... put those in a bag with the laptop tied/sealed for a few days .... then restock with more moisture absorption packets until done.

StuntMonkeh · 29 Nov 2012 at 12:50

Thanks for the tips.

I have put the drive in a bag of rice and it is sitting on a warm radiator.

To be honest when I took it apart it all appears to be dry. No moisture so maybe its dried out already.

I should have probably used some silica gel packs but they don't have those in the supermarket to my knowledge.

wazza300 · 29 Nov 2012 at 12:52

are you drying out the laptop aswell? aslong as its bone dry then it should power up

StuntMonkeh · 29 Nov 2012 at 13:26

I have got the laptop open but it seems dry already. I don't have a seal-able bag to fit it in with rice so it will just have to stand.

Not too worried about the laptop just the data. I believe the laptop is covered under the insurance but will have to be sent away to be PAT tested.

My friend was worried that it would be sent away and he would loose all his family photos.

Would the drive be damaged if I tried powering it up in the laptop or is it safer to try it in my desktop rig to recover the data?

PhillyDee · 29 Nov 2012 at 13:34

Hard drives are sealed from air, (just one incredibly tiny filtered breather hole) so it should actually be ok. I would still leave it at least a week in a warm place (not anything over 40 degrees C though) with moisture absorbing something.

wazza300 · 29 Nov 2012 at 13:49

id try it in a desktop,and leave it a week to fully dry out before you do power it up,last thing you want is it to short circuit

Ceryndrion · 30 Nov 2012 at 08:56

Having read something similar recently, the solution that worked in that case, was to bake it at 60 degrees for about four hours..

FreeStream · 30 Nov 2012 at 09:19

On a wire rack (full air circulation) somewhere warm for a good week or two. If any water got in to the drive then it is dead.

Tattysnuc · 30 Nov 2012 at 10:09

The drive's probably dead.

Even ff the water didn't cause the drive to electrically short, then the residual impurities left from the water would be left on the disk.

Leave it to dry over a prolonged period in an airing cupboard for your best chances - but I don't fancy your chances.

markyboy91 · 30 Nov 2012 at 10:21

makes sure its dry before you will attempt anything

darael · 30 Nov 2012 at 10:28

Unscrew the PCB from the drive, so it can also dry out properly too.

Myself, I'd stick it somewhere quite warm (but not a radiator) with plenty air going round it.

NoNameNoNumber · 30 Nov 2012 at 10:32

Just put in in one of your desktop drivebays, it'll be warmer than ambient and have a decent amount of airflow. Plus there's no chance of you damaging it by knocking it off a radiator or whatever...

paradigm · 30 Nov 2012 at 11:22

I'd not write it off, even if after a week of drying it doesn't power on.

You could always get hold of the same model, and transplant the platters, obviously you'l have to do this with anti-static and anti-dust gloves, and if possible in an area with minimal dust intrusion itself (datacenters are good for this, obviously not everyone has access to a datacenter). Even if the platters have some residue on them a good bathe in isopropyl alcohol (non agitaged - do not rub the platters) should rid most of that.

I've recovered data from some pretty mangled drives before.

Weazle · 3 Dec 2012 at 10:01

Chances are that the drive itself is fine, its sealed from dust so water will have difficulty getting in. Also it was inside a laptop, protected from any sort of friction/current that might wear down the seals. Its the PCB hard drive controller that will most likely be damaged. Dry it out for a week and then pop the drive into a USB caddy or a spare SATA slot in your main desktop.

delta0 · 3 Dec 2012 at 10:13

Weazle said:
Chances are that the drive itself is fine, its sealed from dust so water will have difficulty getting in. Also it was inside a laptop, protected from any sort of friction/current that might wear down the seals. Its the PCB hard drive controller that will most likely be damaged. Dry it out for a week and then pop the drive into a USB caddy or a spare SATA slot in your main desktop.

Most hard drives have a breather hole.