The only jobs here where a week's delay from the event changes the ultimate result are those that have been affected by fire &/or water. Corrosion will continue to attack the circuit boards as long as there is a connection with the residue, regardless of whether the drive has dried.
When you send your drive wet, you prevent drying causing concentration of minerals/salts in the residue that cause corrosion. A drive that was sealed damp and shipped immediately is in far better shape than one that sat on a windowsill for 2 weeks to air-dry.
This means that these are the only jobs on this site where a week's delay from the time of the event will result in a different outcome.
Fire can leave behind acidic smoke residues; water can carry dissolved minerals into your electronics. The water used to extinguish fires can combine both. None of this "stops" once the drive dries. As long as the corrosive residue remains connected to the circuit board traces, the connector pins/components, it will continue to corrode them. In many cases, a month in a carrier bag will do more damage than what happened at the time of the initial event.
The sealed chamber around the platters usually keeps liquid and particulate out, so the data itself is generally intact. What fails is everything outside it. So when a drive gets wet, all you're trying to do is get the contamination away from the things that are going to corrode. And that's a race as soon as the drive gets wet. That's how quickly corrosion occurs.
So when we talk about different types of exposures, let us give you a better idea of what each type of exposure typically will cause.
There are no exceptions to the sequence. It is also contrary to your instincts.
You should never apply electrical power to a board while it is wet or otherwise contaminated. Doing so turns a recoverable drive into a short circuit. Any assessment occurs prior to applying any electrical power.
We use appropriate solvents to remove residue as opposed to just drying. Drying leaves the corrosive agent behind in a higher concentration.
Repairing individual components under magnification and replacing all components that were damaged by contaminants.
In the event of liquid or particle entering the platter chamber, the platters will be cleaned and an internal filter will be replaced prior to spinning up the drive again.
A decontamination process does not restore a drive. It may accept one read cycle, so it is imaged in one planned pass rather than tested.
The only variable which will cost you nothing and change everything.
As for water and fire damaged drives, these are from £300 +VAT after a complimentary 48-hour diagnostic with a 50% deposit to secure the component-level work as there is no way to determine what shape the platters will be in until then.
It's really just how fast it arrives here that will genuinely make all the difference. If possible seal the drive in a plastic bag with a little of what it has been exposed to (keeping it wet is better than letting it dry), and post it the same day. It would also help if you rang us first so that we can be expecting it when it arrives, and deal with it straight away rather than waiting till the next morning.
Send the device in with an initial report of what has occurred to it. The diagnosis is at no charge and commits you to nothing, and the subsequent fee is written as a firm price prior to opening anything.
This is the only step that requires input from you and nothing else can happen until the device is on our bench. Package your item properly and include all the information we require about you and your item(s), then ship them to us. Then comes a no-cost diagnostic, followed by a written quote.
Posting it? Use a tracked and insured service. The value of what is on the drive far exceeds the cost of postage. Bringing it in? Weekdays from 9am to 5:30pm, and it still needs packing as described above for the journey.
Tell us about the item in question, tell us how it has been behaving lately, and let us know if there is anything you have done as far as troubleshooting goes so that our engineers may provide a realistic estimate of success and a probable cost range prior to sending your items off.
We’ll be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 0161 871 0788.
Most common questions we receive regarding water and flood-damaged drives as well as fire damaged drives.
No. As you attempt to remove the moisture, you are concentrating the mineral and salt residue that causes corrosion. This residue will attack the PCB. Seal it damp in a bag and send it to us now – a wet drive arriving today is in much better shape than a dried-out drive arriving next week.
No. Rice will absorb some of the surrounding moisture but have no effect on the residual substance on the drive that causes the chemical reaction which ultimately damages the drive. It also introduces starch dust. It is by far the most repeated bad advice we have ever seen for water-damaged electronic devices.
Usually not. A scorched casing rarely means scorched data. The platters typically withstand much higher temperatures than the plastic components surrounding them. Typically, the actual damage occurs from either the acidic smoke residue created by the fire itself and/or any water that may be needed to extinguish the flames.
More urgent than virtually all others. In fact, as long as contaminants continue to sit upon the components, corrosion will continue; therefore, when contrasted against a mechanical fault, corrosion can truly get worse with the passage of weeks if the drive remains idle in a drawer.
Often, though it is generally harder. As with all contaminants, the residue will remain, and often has caused even greater damage than would have been possible had the drive come in wet. Regardless, we would recommend that you send it to us — since the diagnostic costs nothing.
From £300 plus VAT after a free 48-hour diagnostic. We require an initial 50% deposit before commencing component-level work. Payment for the remainder is required only when we successfully complete the job.
A free written diagnostic; payment for most jobs is contingent upon whether or not they succeed; and a full 10,000-part inventory supports every single repair. The quicker we receive the failed unit, the better its chances for a successful recovery.