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Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
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The ROM of a PCB immersed in water for days can it be used?

January 31st, 2019, 7:47

Let's suppose that a hard disk has been immersed in water for 2-3 days (water from home, not river or sea) and we are going to swap platters with a hard disk donor.

In case the ROM needs to be the same, that ROM could be worth to be transplanted to new PCB, or the water has already finished with it? In that case....GAME OVER ?

Re: The ROM of a PBC immersed in water for days can it be us

January 31st, 2019, 7:51

Chances are 0-100%. What else can you expect over the Internet? Remove it, clean it and read it.
I would worry about the platters more than ROM.

Re: The ROM of a PBC immersed in water for days can it be us

January 31st, 2019, 8:22

melvin wrote:Chances are 0-100%. What else can you expect over the Internet? Remove it, clean it and read it.
I would worry about the platters more than ROM.


It's just a guess, it's to know if besides the platters you have to worry about the ROM, since being unique for this drive (in many cases) if it does not work, I understand that there is nothing to do.

Re: The ROM of a PCB immersed in water for days can it be us

January 31st, 2019, 8:53

If it's Toshiba or Seagate and the ROM is dead i think it's over. But i doubt that it would be dead in two days.

Re: The ROM of a PCB immersed in water for days can it be us

January 31st, 2019, 10:24

ROM chips are pretty hardy. I don't think it'd be an issue unless it has been underwater so long the legs have corroded off.

Also, before I'd resort to considering platter swap I'd give it a chance and see if the motor still works. If it does you might avoid unnecessary calibration issues. But, cleaning it will be fun if water gets inside. Especially if it's salt water.

Re: The ROM of a PCB immersed in water for days can it be us

February 1st, 2019, 5:33

Thanks :)
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