Computer hard drives, laptops, and tablets are also affected by the heat.

Table 1: In many cases, the permissible maximum ambient temperature is 35 degrees.

During the current heatwave across large parts of Europe with peak temperatures over 40 degrees, not only humans and animals suffer, but also data storage devices such as hard drives or flash memory involuntarily cease to function at high temperatures.

Twice as many failures in data storage devices during summer

"Often, the computer or tablet simply shuts down on its own due to overheating and can only be reactivated once the temperature has dropped," explains Nicolas Ehrschwendner from Attingo Data Recovery. "In many cases, however, the consequences are fatal: the hardware becomes defective and access to the data is no longer possible." On hot summer days, data recovery specialists are called in twice as often on average.

Death by overheating can affect many different types of data storage: "In our cleanroom laboratories, we receive PCs, laptops, servers, and RAID systems due to overheating. But increasingly popular NAS systems are also often affected by heat death, as they are frequently used in non-air-conditioned environments," reports Ehrschwendner.

Maximum allowed temperature often only 35 degrees

Attingo Data Recovery has analyzed the manufacturer specifications of current and widely used devices with data storage. The information is often difficult or very hard to find. In many cases, the maximum permissible ambient temperature is 35 degrees (see Table 1).

Data recovery possible in almost all cases

The good news: Attingo Data Recovery reconstructs the lost data in its own cleanroom laboratories in Vienna, Hamburg, and Amsterdam. Total failure due to data loss is thus avoided. "Especially in summer, the number of our high-priority cases increases, where we work around the clock on very urgent data recovery cases," Ehrschwendner explains. "Many companies do not realize that high temperatures can quickly disable their IT systems. The result is often a shutdown— and we can often reduce the downtime to just a few hours."

Tips for "E-Health" during the peak summer

As protection against "heat stroke," Attingo recommends following this checklist:

• PCs, NAS, servers suffer from claustrophobia: do not place them in tight spaces without air circulation
• A lizard peeks out: clean case vents with compressed air
• Measure fever: monitor temperature in server rooms and check air conditioning
• Avoid sunburn: do not leave notebooks and tablets in the sun to bake
• Lightning rod: not only heat, but also storms can destroy data storage devices: install surge protection against electrical discharges
• Non-swimmers: electronic devices react very sensitive to moisture. Do not use laptops and tablets near water.
• Avoid consequential damage: do not power on damaged data storage devices—this increases the damage

Professional data recovery

Attingo is a leading provider of data recovery in cases of deleted, formatted, or mechanically damaged data storage devices. The company operates its own cleanroom laboratories in Vienna, Hamburg, and Amsterdam and has been a specialist in data recovery for servers and RAID systems across Europe for 18 years. Attingo is ISO 9001 certified and has its own research and development department as well as more than 10,000 hard drives in stock for spare parts.