hard disk damage due to fire disaster.

Our generation is witnessing rising temperatures all over the world. Extreme temperatures bring heat which evaporates more moisture from the ground, and makes vegetation more flammable.

If not contained, wildfires can burn homes and businesses. 

Along with that, the excessive heat can also increase the chance of residential and workplace fires.

Unfortunately, we can expect more wildfires in the years ahead, especially with the fire seasons getting longer.

When electronics are caught in a fire, hard drives can be surprisingly resilient - a hard drive which has been through a disaster may still keep the data. However, data starts becoming corrupted or damaged by prolonged exposures to heat. 

Hard drive damage due to fire may not be the most common cause of data loss, but it is definitely one of the most difficult to recover from. 

Hard drives are usually not damaged only by fire, but also by heat, smoke and water.

Taken together, these factors make recovering data from a burned disk an incredibly difficult task. 

heat.

Extreme heat can damage both the external and internal electronics of your device. The exact amount of damage depends on the intensity of the fire. 

If we take a laptop, for example, short timeframes of exposure to temperatures of 100° F may not cause any major damage, however, exposure at 200° F will most likely lead to some corruption of data. Exposure at 300° F or higher can cause more extensive damage, warping HDDs and platters and desoldering a device’s electronic connections.

As far as hard drives are concerned, when a hard drive overheats, its components can sustain serious damage almost instantaneously.

Most drives have a maximum temperature threshold of around 140° F and electrical components begin to degrade past this point. 

All of the data that is stored on a hard drive is written onto metal discs or platters and, when these expand and contract, they can become warped and damage other components or even cause a head crash. 

As mentioned earlier, all of the data that can be found on a hard drive is stored on its platters. The individual pieces of data that form a file (called bytes) are all stored in separate locations. When you save a file, the location of each individual byte is recorded by your drive. When you then open this file, these individual locations are viewed, the bytes are read and the file is reconstituted and displayed. These bytes are stored in microscopic sectors and if the platter’s position changes even slightly, your files cannot be retrieved.

But that's not all. The drive's controller board is especially sensitive to heat-related issues. If contacts between printed circuit board components degrade, the hard drive could not be able to communicate with the computer. Occasionally, overheating will damage the controller board's firmware chip, which immediately prevents the drive from functioning correctly.

Furthermore, the drive's actuator heads may experience tracking issues and, depending on the settings, the drive may immediately power off to prevent extensive media damage.

smoke.

Smoke particles are some of the most damaging things that can get inside a hard disk drive. 

Hard drives are sealed assemblies, however they have an air pressure equalization hole on them somewhere that allows the pressure of the air inside the hard disk drive to remain the same as the air pressure outside of it.  

Some smoke particles are small enough that they can actually get drawn in through the air pressure equalization hole, even with filters inside the drive assembly. Under a microscope, they often look like jagged rocks. When bouncing across the surface of the platter at high speed, they can cause microscopic scratches and flake off the thin film material on the surface of the platters, which is where the data is actually stored. The particles can also cause damage to the read-write heads flying just a few nanometers above the surface of the platters.

Over the past years, the highest-capacity hard disk drives have been filled with an inert gas, such as helium, during manufacturing and then hermetically sealed. While smoke particles may not be able to work their way inside these types of sealed hard disk drives, it is important to remember that they can be corrosive and can still cause oxidation damage to the exposed parts of a hard disk drive, such as the drive controller’s circuit board.

Another danger of smoke is also the fact that there may be no obvious signs of damage (as opposed to the usually obvious damage when a hard disk drive has been exposed to water or fire). The damage may not occur immediately, but take weeks or months to manifest, often in subtle and difficult to determine ways.

water.

While the physical or mechanical damage to an HDD caught in fire alone can be devastating, the hard drive chamber or hard drive assembly (HDA), also often gets heavily contaminated with water from a fire sprinkler system or from the water that was hosed down with heavy water pressure by firefighters.

When buildings are caught in a fire, firefighters usually use water, but in certain circumstances they need to use foam and other special agents which can further damage any electronic devices.

In addition, water from a fire hose is usually cold, which in turn involves abrupt temperature changes from hot to cold that can lead to deformation of the chassis and drive platters. 

When a hard drive gets wet, the water could potentially cause a short circuit. But water alone will not destroy a hard drive nor its data. While water can damage a hard drive’s electronics, the data itself is stored magnetically. The disks of hard drives have delicate heads that read the information stored on the platters. When the water dries, it can leave a residue over the platters and heads, and cause the platters to begin to degrade over time.

Further on, the moisture can affect the platter lubrication layers, which can cause oxidation.  

In addition, the screws on the drive’s faceplate can become rusted.  The rust can flake off, fall onto the drive’s platter and cause damage. 

charred or melted hard drive. 

If your hard disk is in a case or in a computer, any plastic components will melt. 

The same way, rubber seals will also melt. Hard disk drives and some solid-state hard drives have metal casings protecting the components that store data. These cases are generally sealed with an industrial-strength rubber gasket.

Platters inside an HDD where the data is stored tend to withstand high temperatures, but eventually they begin to warp, bubble, or melt.

Metal parts are very resistant to heat and can survive temperatures up to 2,000° F. It is important to note that, even at lower temperatures, the durability of silicon and most other metals breaks down as heat or flame exposure is prolonged. 

It’s also important to mention that a burned hard drive has a lot of toxic chemicals that can release toxic fumes.

what to do with a hard drive that was caught in a fire disaster. 

1. do not try to power up a hard drive.

You risk damaging the platters which may result in additional damage that is beyond repair. This is especially important to note if the heads were stuck over the platters.

2. do not open the case of a hard drive.

The rubber that normally seals the HDD is likely to turn into burnt dust and once you open the casing, this dust will float around inside the confined space and contaminate the platters.

3. do not place a hard drive in a refrigerator or freezer as an attempt to cool it.

The sharp drop from hot to cold can lead to condensation which will damage the internal components of the device.

4. do not attempt to clean a hard drive with water.

5. do not attempt to dry a hard drive that has become wet.

It could lead to further data loss due to corrosion. Do not use rice to dry the drive. Place the hard drive in a plastic bag with an airtight zip closure and wrap it with a damp paper towel to keep as much moisture in the device as possible. 

6. do not run a data recovery software.

7. do not attempt DIY recovery.

Any attempt at recovery on your own may lead to the data being completely and permanently irretrievable.

8. if you are unable to remove the hard drive from your device, remove the battery of the device (ex. laptop) and send the device to data recovery professionals.

9. if the drive is “sealed” in a melted computer, leave it intact and send the entire system to data recovery professionals.

10. contact a professional data recovery expert, especially if the data is critical.

Data recovery from fire damaged devices requires a unique set of skills.

11. consider any available backup data.

Having data readily available can make all the difference. 

Remember that there’s no time like the present to back up your data. 

All physical media issues require professional treatment in a carefully controlled environment.

Professional data recovery requires a huge amount of in-depth knowledge and certified equipment that make it possible to carry out repairs.

Data recovery engineers have to repair / replace damaged parts in a cleanroom environment. Cleanroom technology protects media by filtering out airborne contaminants and preventing electrostatic buildups, so that engineers can safely open a storage device to inspect and repair any physical damage on actuator heads, platters and other sensitive components.

Kotar Data Recovery offers free diagnostics for overheated, fire, water or smoke damaged hard drives. 

We assess media damage to create an accurate, risk-free evaluation with a price and turnaround estimate.