AboutRider Expertise With 20 years experience I can answer almost any question about Intel computers ror build, restore, backup, configure, OS problems, Hardware issures. Setup of hardware components, repair, remove and replace. Trouble shooting hardware/driver issues.
Qwner of DIY Computer Repair and autor of the DIY Computer Repair E-Book
Experience I have been a hardware/os tech for over 20 years, I also own a web site for the do it yourselfer with over 170 articles.
Education/Credentials AAS Electronics Engineering Technology, MCSE, A , HP/IBM/Compaq hardware repair ceritfications
You can visit my site here: DIY Computer Repair or
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Question I recently had a flood in my basement. There were 2 hard drives sitting on the basement floor under the computer desk. There was approx. 2-3 inches of water. Is there any chance these are salvageable? I should also add that the monitor cord was dangling down and the connector was sitting on the floor also exposed to water. Should these items be replaced or can they be repaired?
Answer The hard drives are not sealed completly, water may have gotten in through the expansion port, this is a small port on the hard drive case that allows for heat expansion of the air inside the drive. If water did enter the dirve powering the drive up will cause the heads to impact the palters. If you have data on the drives and need to reover it you should seek a company that does data recovery like On Track. The recovery may be expensive. If you don't have any data on them that you want to recover you could try to dry them out by heating them up with a hair dryer, this will cause any moisture inside the drives to evaportate, be aware that this will take some time and you will have to repeat the process by letting them cool down and reheat them two or three times to insure that all the moisture has evaportated, then there is no gaurentee the drives will be reliable. The water in itself will no cause any damage to the componets if power was not applied while they were wet.
As for the connector for the monitor use a hair dryer to insure all the moisture has been evaporated but becarefull with the amount of heat because the caseing is platic and will distort.
