How to recover data from a flooded PC?

[master_picengineer]

Immergency

Hi all,

Water invaded my house. I lost nearly every things.
Please i need your advices to recover informations and files stored in my PC (it is still wet). Please tell me what to do, I need some files urgently.

Thanks a lot.

 

[cyberrat]

Immergency

dry it out thoroughly first!

do NOT apply power until it is 100% dry.

was it submerged completely?

 

[master_picengineer]

Immergency

No, only Half the Central Unit.
How much time must i waiting for ?
Is there any risk to have rust ?
and in which parts ?

Thanks a lot.

 

[cyberrat]

Immergency

Did the hard dive get soaked?
it can be put in another machine if not, but I'd leave it somewhere very warm for several days before trying.

 

[master_picengineer]

Immergency

Yes,
Hard disk, Ethernet cart were totally soaked. I used a Hair-dryer to dry them.
Is there any chimical product to use to ovoid rusting ?

 

[echo47]

Immergency

Was it flood waters, like an overflowing river/ocean? Wow. I wouldn't trust any electronics that has been flooded and allowed to air-dry. Residue left by evaporation can be nasty. I'd buy new equipment.

Regarding the hard drive, the advice I've heard is to put the soaked drive into a sealed plastic bag, and send it to a hard drive data recovery service that has experience in flood damage. Here's one company's suggestion. You can find many others via Google:
https://www.storagesearch.com/disklabs-art3-floods.html

 

[master_picengineer]

Immergency

Yes, flood and torrential rain that touched north africa the last week. Some people died, it was the top international world news.

 

[PaulHolland]

Re: Immergency

Clean the hardware except harddisk with fresh water to remove all dirt since you will not see it but its there !. If you shake the HD do you hear something or feel something shaking ??..

 

[master_picengineer]

Immergency

Hi PaulHolland,
Now the PC is clean and dry. I shaked the HD,It seems that there nathing inside.
Should I put him under sun light for a while ?

 

[PaulHolland]

Re: Immergency

Do not expose the HD to high temperatures but leave it to dry for some days and than first power it up and do not access it. Simply connect the power first and no bandcable!. Leave the HD on for a few hours so it get to working temp and does not make any strange sound. if it does switch it off and send it for repair to special shops all on internet or contact you HD maker for help. Even if it works still copy all data and buy a new disk since your old disk may be fine now but who will tell how its doing next month ?.