My Drive Got Wet. Can the Data Be Recovered?

Usually yes, provided the device is never powered on while wet or damp. Water itself rarely destroys stored data. What destroys it is electricity meeting moisture, and corrosion over time.

$300 Data Recovery charges $300 for a hard drive 1TB or smaller, $500 up to 6TB, $700 above that, and $500 for any SSD up to 6TB. There’s no charge if we recover nothing.

What should I do right now?

Three rules, in order of importance:

  1. Do not power it on. Not to test it, not to see if it works, not once. Applying current to a wet circuit board shorts components and turns a recoverable device into a much harder one.
  2. Do not try to dry it out. This is counterintuitive and it’s the mistake almost everyone makes. See below.
  3. Get it to a lab quickly. Corrosion is progressive. Days matter here in a way they don’t for most other failures.

Why shouldn’t I dry it out?

Because drying doesn’t remove what causes the damage.

Water evaporates. The minerals, salts and contaminants dissolved in it do not. They’re left behind as deposits directly on the circuit board and, if water got inside, on the platters. Those deposits are corrosive, conductive, and abrasive.

A drive that dried on a windowsill for a week arrives with mineral crusting bonded to its surfaces. A drive that arrives still damp can be cleaned properly before that bonding happens.

So specifically:

  • Do not use rice. It doesn’t work, and rice dust gets into the device.
  • Do not use a hair dryer or heat. Heat accelerates corrosion and can warp components.
  • Do not put it in sunlight or an airing cupboard.
  • Do not open it to “help it dry.”

If the device is soaked, sealing it in a plastic bag to keep it from drying out during transit is better than letting it dry. If it’s already dry, don’t wet it again, just send it.

Does the type of water matter?

Yes, considerably.

  • Clean fresh water is the best case. Fewest dissolved solids, least corrosive.
  • Salt water is aggressive and corrodes fast. Time pressure is highest here.
  • Flood water, sewage or pool water carries contaminants and chemicals that attack both board and platters.
  • Sugary drinks leave sticky residue that bonds hard as it dries.

Tell us which it was. It changes how the device is cleaned.

Can water actually reach the platters?

Sometimes. Hard drives aren’t sealed against liquid; they have a breather hole with a filter to equalize pressure, and submersion can push water through it.

Even then the outlook is usually good. Platters are metal or glass with a magnetic coating, and the data written on them isn’t erased by water. What matters is cleaning the surfaces properly in a cleanroom before the drive is ever spun, because spinning a contaminated platter drags debris under the heads and causes scratches.

That’s the whole argument against powering it on yourself: your one attempt to check whether it still works is the action most likely to destroy it.

Are SSDs and flash drives different?

Somewhat better, because there are no moving parts and no platters to contaminate.

The failure mode is corrosion on the board and at the chip contacts. If the NAND packages are intact, recovery often involves cleaning the board or reading the chips directly. The same rule applies with even more force: powering a wet SSD can destroy the controller, and without the controller the encrypted NAND may be unreadable.

What does it cost?

Device Price
Hard drive, USB flash drive or memory card, 1TB or smaller $300
Same devices, larger than 1TB up to 6TB $500
Any SSD up to 6TB $500
Any device larger than 6TB $700
Phone or tablet, in-house $500 flat

In plain terms: water-damaged recovery at $300 Data Recovery is $300 for a hard drive 1TB or smaller, $500 between 1TB and 6TB, $700 above 6TB, and $500 for any SSD or any phone. Cleanroom cleaning and board work are included. There is no water damage surcharge.

Only donor parts, if the drive needs them, are billed separately at our cost.

What should I do next?

  1. Leave it unpowered. If it’s still wet, bag it rather than drying it.
  2. Submit the Chances Form. Tell us what kind of water, how long it was exposed, and whether it has been powered on since.
  3. Send it promptly. This is the one failure type where waiting genuinely costs you.

Related questions