i was working on a friends computer about to back up files from a hard drive (theres 2 hd in his system, this one was for media) and then i saw smoke coming out of the hard drive when i was gonna back it up. So im pretty sure im screwed in the situation, windows doesnt show the hard drive anymore, but is there anything i can do to pull data off the disk? stick it in a freezer maybe? i really dont want to send it off to the "pros" I was thinking i could buy the exact same hard drive and just take out the chip board and put it in the smoked hard drive and see what happens.
smoke coming from hard drive
- Thread starter toby56
- Start date
Sheringan
New Member
This is also what I did to my computer. Large blowers that standard is a big help. :good:
TrainTrackHack
VIP Member
Usually, smoke coming out of your hard drive is a bad sign. I would try to get all data off it ASAP, as it might be on its way out. Too many people have ignored warning signs like this; by the moment your house burns down it's usually too late, at this point the disk is probably unreadable.
</smart@$$>
This is one of the reasons HDs on their way out usually die at bootup - because the drives are still cold and more prone to failure.
</smart@$$>
This is only true to an extent; the engineers take the heating in account when designing HDs, and their safe operating ranges are usually around 30-50 degrees. Going above as well as below these limits increases the chances of failure; so while extra ventilation is certainly god if your HD temps are topping 60, you also need to make sure that they run above 35C just to be safe.
This is one of the reasons HDs on their way out usually die at bootup - because the drives are still cold and more prone to failure.