Cold destroys hard drives and flash memory

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Disk-Free_Web

The current temperature fluctuations around freezing point not only challenge people but also make hard drives, SSDs, and other electronic devices literally sweat.

Short circuit caused by condensation water

Who doesn't know it - you order a refreshing soft drink in a restaurant, and after a short time, condensation forms on the outside of the glass. The same effect can occur when laptops are left in the car and exposed to cold for several hours. If the laptop is turned on immediately in this state, the interior of the laptop heats up within minutes by the processor, graphics card, and hard drive by 30-40°C. "If condensation water forms on the electronic components as a result, it can lead to short circuits and even physical damage," explains Nicolas Ehrschwendner, Managing Director of Attingo Data Recovery. Therefore, electronic devices should be given enough time to acclimate. This also applies, for example, to electronics delivered by parcel service and stored in cold transporters for several hours.

Hard drive, SSD, or USB stick broken - what to do?

A short circuit usually damages the control electronics of the data carrier and can, in some cases, destroy the read/write heads inside a hard drive. "A simple circuit board replacement, as was still possible 15 years ago, no longer works with current hard drive models," explains Ehrschwendner, adding: "The hard drive electronics contain so-called adaptive parameters, which are responsible, among other things, for head control. These are already different from the factory for each individual hard drive." If the data carrier is operated with an incorrect circuit board with wrong information, it often leads to data loss. To avoid consequential damage, broken hard drives should be handled by experts. The good news: Attingo Data Recovery reconstructs the lost data in its in-house cleanroom laboratories in Hamburg, Vienna, and Amsterdam. In almost all cases, data can be fully recovered from such failure patterns.

Professional data recovery

Attingo is a leading provider of data recovery in cases of deleted, formatted, or mechanically damaged data carriers. The company operates its own cleanroom laboratories in Hamburg, Vienna, and Amsterdam and has been a specialist in data recovery for servers and RAID systems across Europe for 21 years. Attingo is certified according to ISO 9001 quality standards and has its own research and development department, as well as more than 14,500 hard drives in stock for spare parts.