Hard Drive Recovery -- Flood Damage

Is it possible to recover data from a hard drive that was under water? Can I just swap out the internal components? Has anyone ever done this successfully? I have a computer that was damaged during hurricane katrina, and I would really like to get the photos off of it.

Thanks

 

Oh man, oh man. Speaking as a technician who works on various cellular & radio electronics, I can tell you water damage is a bad thing. I would imagine it's even worse for things with moving mechanical parts, such as a hard drive. The first questions I would ask are, how long was it under water, was it fully submerged, and was it powered at any point while wet? I suspect it's going to be beyond any kind of realistic recovery. Now that it's completely dried out, have you tried powering it up yet?

 

It was under water (submerged) for probably 12 hours. I'm guessing it had no power to it while wet because the power went out hours before the water came in. The computer case is pretty beat up, but I can get the hard drive out. I just don't have a clue how to get the data off, this side of a few thousand bucks.

 

google on data recovery. Recent edition of PC magazine had article on a top-line data recovery company (Ontrack). A few $hundred to see if they can recovery it, then more to get the data back. Not cheap. but what are the alternatives. You might have a chance to put new electronics on the drive. If it were fresh water, I'd recommend a thorough bath in distilled water, followed by alcohol, followed by a thorough drying in a low-heat oven. Oh, and prayer. If salt water, try a commercial outfit who is capable of a full bottom-up rebuild, if your data is worth the price.

 

I'm new to this forum but I've been at computers for more that 12 years.

I've had some limited success drying out electronics by taking apart what I can, in your case just removing the circuit board from the bottom of the drive and leaving all of the parts inside a closed car on a warm sunny day for the whole day sometimes even 2 days. I know it sound corny but it does get all of the moisture out from under the chips on the board which is where the problem is when you power it up.

If there is moisture inside the drive where the platters are then you will total the drive by opening it to dry it but would probably be able to recover the data.

 

If the drive was submerged, most likely water got into the inner casing, and personally, unless this drive was for a financial or company that deals with customer information, I would right it off. It is not worth the cost to pay hundereds of dollars to recover your college homework, or letters to aunt Sally.

Now do not get me wrong, there may be work related corrospondance on the drive for your job, but I personally keep that stuff on my USB keychain, or store in a safe place.

 

Don't know if this will help but possibly:

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-02-13.htm

and read 1) Fred's Major Brain-Fade which will lead to this link:

http://www.informationweek.com/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=179102805

"Having a deep-geek file/disk recovery tool on hand just might save you hours of work later on, so click on over and see what's available!"

May be there is something here to help, trully don't know.