[itdiscuss] Gummy Hard Drive

[Dayron Daugherty]

My thought would be if you don't open it up some of the residue may
remain in the housing and would also hinder you ability to see if it was
fully dry. Given it's current condition being a failed drive, I'd not
hesitate to open it up if data recovery service turns out not to be an
option. 

 

From: discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org
[mailto:discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org] On Behalf Of blloyd at buskercom.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 10:10 AM
To: discuss at itdiscuss.org
Subject: Re: [itdiscuss] Gummy Hard Drive

 

I wonder what would happen if I socked it in distilled water and then
let it dry out?  What do you think about that?  That way I wouldn't be
opening it up and it might free up the mechanical parts.

 

 

Bill Lloyd 
IT Manager

 

2567 Athens Hwy.
Gainesville, GA 30507
Phone: 770-417-1604 Ext.: 250
Fax:     770-417-1747
Cell:     404-379-6963

blloyd at buskercom.com

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From: discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org
[mailto:discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org] On Behalf Of Dayron Daugherty
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 10:02 AM
To: IT Discussion Forum
Subject: Re: [itdiscuss] Gummy Hard Drive

 

Well if you did nothing it's dead. So trying it won't hurt, but keep in
mind harddrive recovery service providers usually have a "clean room"
they operate in that is relatively free of airborne, microscopic dust
particles. 

 

I've repaired laptop motherboards with ultra sugary coffee spilled on
them by running the motherboard under hot running water. Then after
ample dry time put the laptop back together and it worked. Obviously a
hardrive is a very different animal, but as said...if it's dead
anyway... may as well try cleaning it if you aren't going to send it off
for drive recovery. 

 

I had an old 8GB drive (many many moons ago) that stopped spinning
up...no power to it at all. I had another drive of the exact model that
didn't have any data on it that I needed. I removed the main circuit
board from the known good drive and replaced it on the bad drive and it
worked. It obviously wasn't done in s ac clean room. 

 

If you can get another drive of the exact same model you could try
opening the gummed up drive, and cleaning the parts related to the
platters themselves and attempt moving just the data related parts to
the other working drive. I've never done that, but have read a success
story or 2 about it in the past. 

 

 

From: discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org
[mailto:discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org] On Behalf Of blloyd at buskercom.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 9:26 AM
To: discuss at itdiscuss.org
Subject: [itdiscuss] Gummy Hard Drive

 

A pastor for the church that my boss is a member of has recently spilt
sweet tea into his laptop, which gummed up the inside of his hard drive.
It is so gummed up that it will not spin up to recover data.  Now I am
willing to open up the HD case and try to remove the gum and put it back
together long enough to get data off.  We would send it off to be
recovered, but it costs too much money for him to afford.  

 

What I'm wondering is what you all think about this?  Any similar
situations?

 

Bill Lloyd 
IT Manager



2567 Athens Hwy.
Gainesville, GA 30507
Phone: 770-417-1604 Ext.: 250
Fax:     770-417-1747
Cell:     404-379-6963

blloyd at buskercom.com

This email and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential and
proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are
requested to delete this entire communication immediately. Emails cannot
be guaranteed to be secure or free of errors or viruses. The sender does
not accept any liability or responsibility for any problems that may
result from emails you receive.

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