Hurricane season is here, but so is Data Analyzers team of experts to walk you through finding the best way to recover your data from the storms! Being a Florida-based Data Recovery Company, we have seen our fair share of storms and have mastered the art of surviving them with our data intact. Here are a few tips gathered from our experience living in storm central:
Act Immediately
It is critical not to delay attending to your water-damaged hard drive. If your drive has had water contact during a hurricane, this likely means that it has come into contact with water containing a variety particles, debris and contaminants. If improperly dried, these factors could further damage your drive. In the event that your drive has important data still stored on it, try taking measures toward protecting the drive from further damage as soon as possible.
Do NOT Open the Hard Drive
Please do NOT remove the metal lid or enclosure from your drive. This is not a good idea and will likely cause further damage, water penetration, and inevitable corrosion. If you open your drive outside of a clean room environment, dust particles and other debris can stick to the platters, causing the heads to catch these particles making your data inaccessible or unrecoverable!
Hair Dryer? Bad Idea!
You heard rice is great for phones, hair dryer sounds even better? Rice may work in some cases, since devices such as a cellphone do not have moving mechanical parts. However, taking a hair dryer or a heater of any kind to your drive can cause far more damage than letting the drive dry out on its own. Not only is the heat from the blow dryer damaging, but it can cause a charge build-up in the drive itself. Hair dryers are definitely not a safe bet!
What to do if your hard drive is wet?
- Wipe the drive using a dry cloth, or wrap the drive in paper towels.
- Once dry enough, place the drive in an plastic bag. Keep the bag slightly open, but mostly closed tight (this will prevent condensation or water vapors in the bag).
- Put the drive somewhere that it won’t be moved around.
- Let the drive dry out on its own, again without a blow dryer/fan or oven.
- Take the drive to a specialist. It’s always best to let a professional handle your sensitive electronics. Bringing your drive to a data recovery company is likely the safest option. We can take the drive apart in a clean environment and either repair it, or attempt to retrieve your data.
Try NOT to power your drive up at all – Data Analyzers
Unfortunately, data retrieval is not always possible and your data can be lost forever if handled improperly. It is important that you establish a backup procedure and recurring strategy for all of your important data. Read our 3-2-1 backup strategy post and learn more about backups.
If you do find yourself in need of data recovery after hurricane water damage, or the like, you can always reach the Data Analyzers team at 866-456-DATA!
