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Data Recovery Water Damage

Natural disasters, including lightning strikes, fires and floods, can prove to be the most challenging data recovery exercises. In such cases the hardware will most often have been badly affected, or even partially destroyed. For some, the disaster may be double, because backups are often not stored off-site, or in a fire and waterproof safe. Many businesses have been faced with bankruptcy after a natural disaster caused the loss of their customer files, financial records, inventory records and manufacturing data.

Water damage caused by sprinkler systems or flooding may affect hard drives in two ways: there will most likely be electrical damage, and water may leak through the drive seal if the hard drive is submerged for some time. In this case dirt and other contaminants will invade the drive and spread onto the platters where data is stored, placing the data at high risk. If a hard drive has only been under water for a short time, it is unlikely that water will have penetrated the drive, and the data should be recoverable by a specialist.

Data loss associated with the damage caused by water is unlikely to be remedied in-house, and more often than not the hardware will have to be sent to a data recovery specialist. It is inadvisable to even attempt to power up the hardware if it is visibly damaged, as this may well cause further damage. Transport the drive or media as soon as possible, taking the greatest of care in handling and packaging. If water has penetrated the head assembly or disk cartridge it is imperative that the drive be kept wet! Allowing the drive or media to dry out could cause contaminants to bond with the media, with disastrous results. As far-fetched as it may sound, package the drive in a watertight container with a minimum of a damp sponge.