Hardware isn't idiot proof (1 Viewer)

Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
#1
Ten things not to do with your data

Like put your hard drive in a sock...
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By Dan Ilett

Published: Thursday 16 November 2006

Deaths at the hands of bananas, smelly socks and WD-40 are some of the unusual fates to have befallen innocent hard drives, according to a data recovery company that has released a list of the most remarkable cases of data loss witnessed this year.

One customer left a banana on top of his hard drive, which then rotted and seeped through into the device. The circuits were ruined and the drive failed to work.

The banana was also ruined. :frown2:

Another customer, failing to read the warning signs, managed to reformat his hard drive not once, not twice, but ten times before he realised there was some valuable information he needed.

Another customer decided his broken hard drive could be packaged and sent to the company in a pair of dirty socks. The data recovery company - OnTrack - said the smelly clothing failed to provide the necessary protection during shipping, which resulted in more damage to the drive.

British comedian Dom Joly, presenter of Trigger Happy TV, thought the joke was on him when he dropped his laptop, damaging a hard drive containing 5,000 photos, 6,000 songs, a book he was writing and all of his newspaper columns.

And a university professor appeared not-so-clever when he heard a squeaking noise from the drive of his new desktop and decided to open the case and spray in some WD-40. Although successful in stopping the drive from squeaking, this was largely because he had also stopped the drive from working.

Employees of a global telecommunications company had a tall tale to tell their bosses after they dropped a laptop computer while working from a helicopter in Monaco.

Also, OnTrack says it happens every year, but people continue to leave computers and hard drives in the path of moving vehicles. This year alone, the company recovered data from a laptop that was run over by a people-carrier at the airport, and several external hard drives stuffed in a backpack that was backed over by a truck.

After returning from the airport from his dream diving holiday in Barbados, one man discovered he couldn't access any of the snorkeling photos he took on his new 'waterproof' digital camera. It seems the camera wasn't as waterproof as advertised.

OnTrack claims it rescued the data in all cases. Jim Reinert, senior director of software and services for the company, said it pays to have your damaged hard drive or storage device evaluated because the chances of recovery are good.

http://hardware.silicon.com/storage/0,39024649,39164095,00.htm
 

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sateeh

Day Walker
Jul 28, 2003
8,020
#2
one thing i want to know, how did those guys who dropped it from the Helicopter expect to get anything by sending it to that company ? :D
 
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Martin

Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #3
    sateeh said:
    one thing i want to know, how did those guys who dropped it from the Helicopter expect to get anything by sending it to that company ? :D
    A friend of mine was driving across country, he was moving. He had his computer in the backseat, not in a box or anything, just right there on the seat. He got into a skid, had a small accident, car wasn't really damaged. But the accident had affected his computer. He found his harddrive 10m away from the car. When he got home, he plugged it in, powered it on, worked fine. :D

    The moral of the story is: don't assume anything. :D
     

    sateeh

    Day Walker
    Jul 28, 2003
    8,020
    #5
    Martin said:
    A friend of mine was driving across country, he was moving. He had his computer in the backseat, not in a box or anything, just right there on the seat. He got into a skid, had a small accident, car wasn't really damaged. But the accident had affected his computer. He found his harddrive 10m away from the car. When he got home, he plugged it in, powered it on, worked fine. :D

    The moral of the story is: don't assume anything. :D
    :D u teach we learn
     

    gray

    Senior Member
    Moderator
    Apr 22, 2003
    30,260
    #6
    This reminds me of some of the hilarious stuff I've read at

    The computer stupidity site

    Martin said:
    A friend of mine was driving across country, he was moving. He had his computer in the backseat, not in a box or anything, just right there on the seat. He got into a skid, had a small accident, car wasn't really damaged. But the accident had affected his computer. He found his harddrive 10m away from the car. When he got home, he plugged it in, powered it on, worked fine. :D

    The moral of the story is: don't assume anything. :D
    http://forums.xbox.com/1/8165656/ShowPost.aspx



    Ok, So monday I was involved in a Hit and run Car accident. My truck rolled 3 or 4 times. During the course of the rolling my xbox 360 Premium was thrown out of the vehicle. I didnt get knocked out and Im alive. When I got out of the vehicle I saw my beloved 360 and harddrive not to mention some of my games strewn along the road with other items of mine. I walked over and picked up the 360. Face plate not to be found. 360 had a tire mark on it. It had been ran over. Along with one of my wireless controllers and my remote and power brick. The power brick was ran over but shows no signs of damage. The games were ran over. Saints row and prey might be salvagable. The 360 Got ran over it was squished. one of the metal supports on the side was bent. And when I picked it up the case fell off. I straigtened the metal side and put the case back together and turned it on. It fired up and went to the dash I poped in a game and it read. Played for a little bit then watched a dvd. looks good to me.
     

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