Fall Storm Moisture leads to Data Recovery Nightmare…
September 2, 2003
It's the time of year when the seasons change and much of the country sees higher than normal precipitation. ESS observes higher than normal data recovery needs during these times, and especially in areas recently hit by rain. Aside from lightning strikes, storms can bring on not-so-obvious damage to your hard drive. There are three main causes.
- 1. Manufacturing defect in a surface mount chip.
- 2. Infiltration of moisture into the sealed drive housing causes head damage.
- 3. Moisture on the computer power supply creates a power drift or surge.
- 4. Moisture infiltration into bearing housing causes bad bearings over time.
Manufacturing defect in surface mount chip. This happens when high moisture levels increase and humid air seeps into and through the seals of defective chips on the I/O (input / output) board of your hard drive. Shorts then occur within the chip, often causing capacitors within the chip to explode. A burn mark can often be seen on the chip in this case.
Infiltration of moisture into the sealed drive housing causing head damage. A hard drive is sealed during the manufacturing process. During this sealing process, the manufacturer places a dry pack within the housing to absorb any moisture that may remain in the drive. But if the seal is not completely adequate, moisture will overcome the chemical absorbing capabilities of the chemical pack. Anytime this happens, head damage is eminent, eventually causing the head to crash within weeks. A gradual slowdown of the drive will usually be observed in this case.
Moisture on computer power supply creates power drift or surge . This can not only happen during rain storms, but also when the temperature fluctuates rapidly. Say for instance your company turns off it's a/c at night. When the air stops blasting come 5 PM, the computer remains colder than the air, thus developing condensation, which can cause dangerous voltage “drift.”
Voltage drift is the term describing a gradual rise in the DC voltage feeding your hard drive and other sensitive components. As this voltage deviates from ground (0 volts), resisters on the I/O board become overheated and burn out, rendering your drive unusable.
Moisture infiltration into bearing housing causes bad bearings. Much like the drive housing, the bearing seal can let room air in over time in high-moisture conditions, creating a harsh condition for the ball bearings of your drive, which themselves spin at over 57,600 RPM in today's high performance 7200 RPM drives (the bearings spin 8 to 16 times faster.) As one might image, any contaminant can wreak havoc in this situation. Typically one will hear a high-pitch squealing that gradually gets worse until the drive can no longer function because of the low RPM of the platters, or the drive may just lock up.
It is important to understand that data loss can occur with the change of seasons, and as always, have a good contingency plan in place to avoid the unthinkable, because aside from housing your equipment in a hermetically sealed clean-room, there is really no way to prevent such damage. The choice is yours; you can pay a few thousand now for a good piece of back up equipment, or wait until your drive crashes and shell out even more later.
by Ben Carmitchel
ESS Data Recovery, Inc
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