I've extracted data from a phone which was in a wet ground for two years. The extracting was success.
Did that phone have a HARD DISK DRIVE? 😯
This topic is about submersed hard disks, we have one about "submersed phones/generic electronic devices" here, JFYI
http//www.forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=10038/
jaclaz
Did that phone have a HARD DISK DRIVE? 😯
I have on a number of occasions seen examples where people who are worried about what their electronic data may contain have proceeded to throw their phone or hard drive into a bath tub or sink filled with water in some strange belief that the addition of this water is going to act as some cleaning agent to all of the data contained.
wink
Did that phone have a HARD DISK DRIVE? 😯
I have on a number of occasions seen examples where people who are worried about what their electronic data may contain have proceeded to throw their phone or hard drive into a bath tub or sink filled with water in some strange belief that the addition of this water is going to act as some cleaning agent to all of the data contained.
wink
However what would be the long term effects of water on a drive?
For example what if someone threw their hard drive into a river only for it to be recovered some years later…
What metal are hard disks usually made out of, thus how long would it take to develop rust? How difficult would it be to extract data from a rusty hard disk?
One thing is what wotsits has seen people do, and one thing is what he is asking specifically.
And the thread title seems to confirm like the topic being "submersed hard disks" and not "non-submersed non-hard disks"
Long term effects of water damage/rust on hard disk
I once recovered a CB radio fallen into sea water, it doesn't actually count as it is a non-hard disk and while actually submersed it was just a "quick dip", a failed catch when removing materials from a boat, and passing them to a friend on shore who was lost in his thoughts and wasn't paying attention. Device was quickly recovered from the water, washed, dried and worked for several years after.
jaclaz
Years ago I got useful data back from a laptop which had been smashed and thrown into a canal some time prior - not exactly sure how long but it was more than a few days, plenty long enough for that dirty canal water to get everywhere. Was an old fashioned spinning drive too. Delighted to say that the owner of the laptop is probably still inside where they belong, or at the very least on a register.
Far from all platter drives are hermetically sealed, also there are more components in the drive that are affected by water, like the head(s) and the electronics.
SSDs have no incentive for the manufacturers to keep em sealed.