Media Crash

Handling Damaged Drives - Fire / Water / Physical Damage

If a memory card, drive, or other important piece of media is damaged, a user may think that their work and other precious pieces of information are gone forever. Still, no matter the damage, data recovery is more than possible. The following are some tips for how to handle a damaged drive.

Drives Damaged by Fires:
- Do not try and remove the drive yourself. Instead, call a professional.
- Do not try to power the drive on to check damage.
- Do not try to clean the drive.
- Place the drive in an airtight container.

Drives Damaged by Water:
- Do not dry the drive. This gives the drive time to further corrode.
- Keep the drive wet by wrapping it in a moist towel and store in an airtight plastic bag.
- Use distilled water to keep the drive wet.

Physically Damaged Drives:
- Do not try to power up the drive to see what has been damaged.
- Do not shake or move the drive more than necessary.
- Keep the drive dry.
- Place the drive in an airtight container.

When shipping, be sure to keep the drive in an airtight container or plastic bag and to pack it in a large box with many layers of packing materials. Do not use Styrofoam packing materials: these products give off static electricity that can be harmful to the drive.