My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

[pentium]

I have this 160Gb external hard drive and I take it with me when I go gaming at a friends house.
The other day I was at my friends house and when I had to leave I must of dropped the thing and I didn't hear it. His property is mostly a massive farmyard and the ground is a nasty mess of mud, piss and crap.
This afternoon he calls me and says that I left my drive at his house. I go over there and when he gives me a plastic bag I see this:





I was about to blow chunks right there in his face.
He said it was found when his dad was ploughing the driveway and by then it had been tumbled a few times and dragged through...I don't even want to know.
I got the thing home and after putting on a latex glove I proceeded to put it in the toilet and clean it off.



It took a while but a few flushes and a hot rinse later it was relatively clean and to my luck the drive had only a skidmark on it.



I'm going to wait a few days and put it in the dehydrator so I can get any water out of it before I even try to test it and see if I lost anything.

I don't think anyone can top this one.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Disassemble the whole thing and clean it with isoproply alcohol.
Flush the pcb on the drive with it. (Pcb in the box too.)
Don't get any in the vent hole on top of the drive.
Isopropyl absorbs water carries it away when it evaporates.
Leaves no residue.

A looong time ago I was given a 286 that had been in a house fire.
In their rush to get things out of the house the family dumped/dropped it in a hole full of muddy water in front of the house. They figure it was toast and left it for dead. The firemen in putting out the fire made it worse by adding more water and tromping on it (busting up the case) as they ran back and forth past/through the hole.
-
I managed to get it 100% working again. (Even the PSU) but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the smoke smell out of the power supply. They just wanted it running long enough to get their files off anyway because they upgraded to a 486 ~ WHOO HOO! ~ with the insurance money anyway.

.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Make sure you get between the drive's PCB and the drive's body when you flush it.

[stevo1210]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Ouch!.... that looks real bad with the mud etc. all over it.

[pentium]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Ouch!.... that looks real bad with the mud etc. all over it.

It did not smell like mud.

[kc8adu]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

recently dropped my phone in the dielectric tank of a mitsubishi fx20.
took me a while to clean it up but at least it wasnt shit encrusted.
same phone i drove over with my goldwing.
nokia phones are like the proverbial cockroach!
at least your hdd may have been spared the nasty stuff.
if no evidence of contamination to the hdd finish cleaning the enclosure and its board.

[pentium]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

A bit of TLC really cleaned it up.




I'm going to let the drive dry out before I test it again.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Leave it apart to dry.
You're gonna trap moisture in the case.

[willawake]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

recently dropped my phone in the dielectric tank of a mitsubishi fx20.

lucky you dont work at the sea like i do. phones dont float.....there must be the history of mobile telephony at the edge of the quay.

today i get out of the car, walk around and do stuff come back, my phone is lying next to the door, fucking seatbelt must have detached it.


*woah your toothbrush is a little close to that equipment

[bgavin]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Your WD drive is 2.5 years old. Time to replace it, if you keep anything valuable on it.

[pentium]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

*woah your toothbrush is a little close to that equipment

That one is not mine.

Your WD drive is 2.5 years old. Time to replace it, if you keep anything valuable on it.

I'm still not Mr. moneybags. If it still works and passes multiple surface scans I will be using it again. It will at least be better than the 40Gb slimline Maxtor I am using in my Pc.

[zandrax]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

I'm still not Mr. moneybags. If it still works and passes multiple surface scans I will be using it again. It will at least be better than the 40Gb slimline Maxtor I am using in my Pc.

I agree: if it works after cleaning with alcohol, as PCBONEZ suggests, and drying a couple of days, use it. I hope you do double backup copies of everything (your Maxtor isn't much reliable, sorry to say that).

Zandrax

[bgavin]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Go for it. When it dies, it will no longer pass surface scans and you will know it is time to replace the drive. I am not dissing you, just being somewhat facetious. There is no tone of voice on the internet, hence this disclaimer.



If God loves you, data recovery might be possible. In my business, I find this is not the case most of the time. The drive takes a crap, and you are all done.

I rotate all my business clients' drives and power supplies on a 3 year basis. This is SO much less costly than waiting for Death to arrive, then dealing with the deceased. YMMV.

I explain it to the client this way:
"You have worn tires on the car. You can replace them at your convenience, or wait until one blows. When it blows, you will be on Interstate 5 heading to Disneyland with a car full of screaming kids. They have to pee at every rest stop and continuously ask, 'are we there yet?'. It is a holiday weekend, traffic is murder, the temperature (outside) is only 115 degrees (46C), and your mother-in-law is in the car."

What is the price of pain?

[pentium]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

The hard drive is as dead as a doornail. Damn.

[kikkoman]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Does it spin up?
any clicking noises?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

The drive or the controller?
.

[zandrax]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

The hard drive is as dead as a doornail. Damn.

Try connecting it to a computer - the box may be defective, but the drive still working.
You can download the WD diagnostic from WD site or get the Ultimate Boot CD - it should include it and some other useful diagnostics (my favourite one for hard disks is MHDD).

Zandrax

[pentium]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic Thunk Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic Thunk

It's dead.

[gonzo0815]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Give it a slap, before you discard it, but don`t expect to much from this.

[pentium]

Re: My external drive got dumped on. Literally.

Can we just give up now?
It's not like I lost anything (aside from the drive). The drive was just holding files that I still have on my server.