Data Recovery After a Fire: What Heat Really Destroys (and What Survives)
Is a hard drive pulled from a fire lost? Far less often than people think. This guide explains why the chances of recovery after a fire are often good, especially for hard drives: the device is rarely exposed bare to the flames, and its metal tower, or even the melted material of the equipment, acts as a shield. You will learn the three forms of damage from a fire (heat, corrosive soot, extinguishing water), what makes a device truly unrecoverable, and the real work of a laboratory: thorough cleaning, replacement of the electronics, cleaning with isopropyl alcohol, opening in a cleanroom and migrating the platters to a donor drive. Above all, two vital reflexes: plug nothing back in, open or clean nothing yourself, and do not wait for the insurer or the cleaning company, because acidic soot keeps eating away and every day counts.