not one of my finer moments...

October 2, 2007 11:28 PM

I spilled hard cider on my computer desk, and it got into the openings of my external HDD - while it was on and running. What should I do now?

It finished transferring the data seemingly without any immediate damage, and I disconnected and turned it off. Is there anything I should do from here to make sure that nothing short circuits? I dried it off with a towel and now I await further advice!

posted by streetdreams to Technology (6 answers total)

Chances are the drive really isn't damaged -- drives aren't totally airtight but they're pretty splash-resistant. If you can do it without voiding the warranty, I'd take it apart and try to wipe the stickiness out with a damp cloth. But other than that, you're probably just fine.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:36 PM on October 2, 2007

Sugar is the main problem with spillage on computers and peripherals. If you just turn it back on, it may work for a bit, but then it'll start to malfunction again. To fully assess the amount of damage, you'll need to take it apart. If there's just a few drops here and there, you'll be fine. If you see a lot of cider around the wiring and on the circuit board, you'll want to get a new enclosure. It sounds daunting but it's a lot easier than you think. You just take the hard drive out of one enclosure and put it in the new one. Here's a link to some enclosures: click

Note - You'll void the manufacturers warranty if you do decide to take apart your external HD. If you do decide to go forward with it, keep an eye on stickers that may be covering screws.

Hope this helps.
posted by seniorzo at 11:41 PM on October 2, 2007

It's your data. What's it worth?

Storage is cheaper per gig than ever before, with half-terabyte externals going for just north of $100 or so. I'd probably just buy another external drive and copy all of the contents over, just to be safe. Is this cider-soaked external a backup drive? Because if not, you could stand to be backing stuff up anyway.
posted by mumkin at 11:47 PM on October 2, 2007

Response by poster: It is a backup drive - a 200GB Lacie, bought several years ago when storage was expensive. I had no idea it had gone down so much!

I actually just bought a new MacBook and moved everything onto it, so I guess if it's going to go this would be the least catastrophic time for it to happen. I'll take the drive apart and hope for the best, but it's good to know that I can easily replace it if need be.

Thanks for the advice!
posted by streetdreams at 12:12 AM on October 3, 2007

I spilled coffee on my laptop last year and the hard drive fried and became a paperweight. My big problem was I didn't let it all dry enough and when I turned it back on, the sugar got in there & did irreversible damage.

My only thought is that you might want to take it somewhere and have them take it apart and see if they can clean it up thoroughly before starting it up. Maybe the damage isn't irreversible yet.

Good luck.
posted by miss lynnster at 6:06 AM on October 3, 2007

Personally, I wouldn't even buy a new enclosure. I would open it up and clean it, just to remove the sugary residue.

The drive itself has holes to allow the air pressure to equalize, but there don't usually have much air flow though them, and have paper filters anyway, so unless immersed, it is unlikely any liquid got inside the drive (especially if it still worked). If the cider got on the drive, I would wipe it down with a damp paper towel.

For the other electronics inside, you can safely clean them with distilled water as long as they are not powered on and contain no batteries or charged capacitors.

The hard part is drying things out well before you restart them. Overnight in bag of rice is your friend here.
posted by procrastination at 10:09 AM on October 3, 2007