Group opinion please...

[Mike - USBRecovery.co.uk]

The case is recovered I swapped the pcb, but this is still bothering me. - Fuses are fine , caps are fine. Is it just me or does this look like it's had some serious voltage at some point.

[Desert Data Recovery]

Looks like water damage to me.

On Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 9:56 AM Mike - USBRecovery.co.uk <in...@usbrecovery.co.uk> wrote:

The case is recovered I swapped the pcb, but this is still bothering me. - Fuses are fine , caps are fine. Is it just me or does this look like it's had some serious voltage at some point.

--
Data Recovery Certification Group / for issue with google group please email sc...@myharddrivedied.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DataRecoveryCertification" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to datarecoverycertif...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/datarecoverycertification/33ff11df-34e1-4af1-912d-780472b03668n%40googlegroups.com.

[Data Recovery Guru]

+1 - Looks like water damage to me.

DATARECOVERYGURU TEAM

(617) 571-9172

www.datarecoveryguru.com

Offices are open Mon-Fri 9AM to 4:30PM. 

Available by appointment outside business hours.

Boston: 100 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 500 (5th Floor), Boston, MA 02155
Cambridge: 1 Mifflin Place, Suite 400 (4th Floor), Cambridge MA 02138
Dedham: 3 Allied Drive, Suite 303 (3rd Floor), Dedham, MA 02026

Burlington: 1500 District Ave, 1st Floor, Burlington, MA 01803

Framingham: 945 Concord St., 1st Floor, Framingham, MA 01701

Providence: 10 Dorrance St., Suite 700 (7th Floor), Providence, RI 02903

New Hampshire: One Tara Blvd., Suite 200 (2nd Floor), Nashua, NH 03062

https://www.linkedin.com/company/data-recovery-guru

https://www.facebook.com/datarecoveryguru

https://www.instagram.com/datarecoveryguru

https://www.youtube.com/c/Datarecoveryguru1

https://twitter.com/DataRecoverGuru

https://rumble.com/

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/datarecoverycertification/CAOasWzusJNW2wB%3DjhzH2OFPP1d0qQARtLw1OGDY5XOOdnU0YDw%40mail.gmail.com.

[compos mentis]

The stains suggest water. If it were just the vias, then I would have
said it was atmospheric corrosion.

You can compare these corrosion cases:

https://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=649

[Mike - USBRecovery.co.uk]

Could be I suppose - just didn't feel like liquid from the the rest of the pcb. Just the usual general corrosion for an older drive and obviously no reports of liquid damage from the client.  

[compos mentis]

Are they actually stains, or are they your attempts to clean the
corrosion with a fibre pen?

[Mike - USBRecovery.co.uk]

They're Inside the mask. There was a warranty seal on the drive pcb and plenty of dust so I doubt it had been cleaned at any point.  I did make the assumption the drive had lived it's life in a UK centrally heated home which may not have been the case. We don't get much natural atmospheric corrosion ... unless someone pours a cup of tea over something. 

[compos mentis]

You could ask the client if there are water stains on the bottom of the
case.

[RecuperoDati299]

Hello

the statement "this case is recovered" confused me

is it really that you've successfully recovered the data?

Thanks for clarifying 

Il giorno 21 agosto 2026, alle ore 18:56, Mike - USBRecovery.co.uk <datarecovery...@googlegroups.com> ha scritto:

The case is recovered I swapped the pcb, but this is still bothering me. - Fuses are fine , caps are fine. Is it just me or does this look like it's had some serious voltage at some point.

--

[Mike - USBRecovery.co.uk]

Yes - the case is closed with a full recovery. I was just clearing up the paperwork and thought Id just get a few more opinions. 

[RecuperoDati299]

Well

a whole board picture would be welcome with good resolution to see the details

though Those whitish stains have always been seen on boards where water had gotten in. 

If no clear signs of oxidation are visible on the component solder joints, it could be inferred that either the board was dried in time, or the amount of water was minimal and evaporated quickly enough to prevent oxidation.

Roberto G.

CTO @ https://www.RecuperoDati299euro.it 

Ottieni BlueMail per cellulari

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/datarecoverycertification/0fcce31c-666c-4591-a142-491b6276bdb0n%40googlegroups.com.