FINAL 4/20/09
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
PRESERVATION PROGRAMS
The information provided below is intended for emergency recovery and response, not
general treatment recommendations.
ELECTRONIC MEDIA – HARD DRIVES
Priority Action:
Act quickly
o The sooner a data recovery attempt can be made, the better the chance for
successful recovery of data
Do NOT attempt to recover the data yourself
o Salvage of electronic media and equipment is most successfully carried out by a
firm specializing in data recovery
o Some issues to consider when discussing a contract with a data recovery vendor
include: protection of the data from a security and access perspective; what to do
if data cannot be recovered; how the recovered data should be returned; whether
the original hardware should be returned or disposed of with appropriate
documentation, etc.
Recommendations:
Keep hard drives wet if that is the condition in which they were found
o Keeping hard drives wet will help prevent further corrosion of mineral deposits
and crystallization on the platters
o Keep hard disk drives in a sealed container to keep the drives wet
Do not rinse hard drives in clean water
o Best practice is to leave hard disks alone until they can be salvaged by a firm
that specializes in data recovery
Do not d