ral-clan wrote:
I think it's pretty well known that you can use water to clean enclosed, non-moving components like a circuit board. The motherboard and components (mostly plastic) are all fairly inert things. A bit of washing & drying won't hurt them (as long as they are not powered up at the time). Some people have even put computer motherboards in the dish-washer (i.e. Amiga boards) and then allowed them to dry entirely, without problems.
However, you put a disk drive with moving, non-sealed components (i.e. the motors) in water. In a disk drive there are coil-wraps in the motors, other parts that can corrode, water absorbent materials (like the piece of felt opposite one of the drive heads & even cardboard components). There are also lubricated/greased parts that can be harmed by water (the lubrication can be washed away). Placing a disk-drive in water was a probably a mistake.
I also suspect that your problem was greater than dust contamination. Probably head-misalignment.
Water cleaning is only intended for non-moving, inert, sealed components like motherboards, ICs, resistors, etc.
You could have removed just the circuit board from the disk drive and washed that, though, without worry. In fact, I suspect the circuit board from your disk drive works just fine. It's just the mechanics that are faulty.
Now, in the case of a flood, where you have no choice, and even the moving parts are soaked, a weeks worth of drying is your only choice.
VERY WELL stated. I regularly have washed motherboards and dried them out with 100% success. You just gotta make sure they're dry and you don't do it with mechanical parts like motors. Duh...
@original poster:
Feel your pain - my worse nightmare! Hope for the best recovery!
