# I killed it......



## Steevo (Mar 11, 2014)

On a side note mechanical hard disks suck....hard, and that is as nice as I can be. I booted my Win developer setup on my spare 2TB and installed my copy of 7 onto a new small partition.

Back to the story though, drive in question is a OCZ Agility 3 120GB. I dismantled the drive and sure enough some of the coolant "salts" were dried up on one of the memory chips. I attempted to rinse it off with tap water but its stubborn and my water is hard here, I used a old tooth brush but some residue remains. At this point the drive power light comes on, but it does not register with the BIOS or my RAID card.

I propose to sink the drive in de-ionised water for a week, periodically removing it to give it a scrub, then using a hair dryer or other heat source to dry it and or possibly some electrical cleaner and let it sit again for a few days and try it again.

There is a labeled set of serial connection points on the board, however I am unsure what if any program would allow low level access to the chip to reflash a BIOS onto it. I may attempt hyperterminal to see what if anything it spits out if all else fails.

If none of this works, what should I attempt if anything other than using it as a target for .40 cal?


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## Solaris17 (Mar 11, 2014)

This ones going to be hard chief if you cant recognize it in bios its probably fubar. However if you can manage to get it to show up see if you can pull smart if you can pull smart you should be able to flash it though some of the modules may still be bad. I really wouldnt reccomend the operations via the raid card either and at this point if your array is dead and the others are still good to go ill just shoot the bitch.


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## Mussels (Mar 11, 2014)

whatever you choose to do, remember:

pics. and maybe videos.


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## HammerON (Mar 11, 2014)

Sub'd to thread for whatever may come


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## Steevo (Mar 11, 2014)

I wish I had pictures of the blue stuff on the memory chips, but I still have the residue in the drives case. Some pics and perhaps a video of its true death if all else fails.


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 11, 2014)

Subbing.  I'm interested in this thing coming back to life!


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## Vario (Mar 11, 2014)

Isopropyl might also work as a cleaner.  Not sure I'd immerse the drive, might be hard to dry internal components out even if you wait a couple days.


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## RCoon (Mar 11, 2014)

Submerge in distilled water, clean occasionally, then bury it inside a box filled with silica gel packets to absorb all the moisture. That worked for my Z77 motherboard just fine.

If it doesn't work, please post vidya of you shooting it with a gun of any calibre. Please. For Science.

(then mail it to samsung
Hanaro Europe BV
Florijn 8
5751 PC Deurne 
The Netherlands

Office  +31 (0)493 322 330
Fax  +31 (0)493 322 331
Email  Samsungmemory@hanaro.eu)


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## Steevo (Mar 13, 2014)

Uploaded pics obviously.


So to date I have only found distilled water, so I used that and an old plastic container I washed out again with the distilled water. It has been soaking for a day when I took these, I peeled the label off so no paper would be floating around in the water, after putting cling wrap over it to seal it well enough I have been giving it some shakes, there is a bit of bubbles now in the water from the coolant I believe. 


The first picture is what the coolant dried into, kind of a thick paste, all the blue color from the dried coolant is gone from the drive now. and I didn't see anymore residue (hard water looking spots or lines) on the board itself. 

4th picture shows the LED's and the serial connections, at first after it flooded the pwr light would not come on, after my first attempt to just rinse it off and scrub it with a old toothbrush and a quick dry with a hairdryer it would come on. I think the light below labeled flt means fault, it is not lighting up, and neither does the one on my other drive which is still good. 

Tonight I will change the water and let it soak again and give it some shakes.


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## Aquinus (Mar 13, 2014)

Just keep in mind that the longer you keep it submerged in water the longer you will need to let it dry. I can imagine water getting into place it shouldn't.


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## Sasqui (Mar 13, 2014)

Splattered Koolance fluid on a MB long time ago, dapped with a towel and everything worked fine... for a month or two.  System became very unstable and after a bunch of BIOS flashes, finally took out the memory to find blue dried Koolance fluid residue stuck on the traces.  Wiped off with a moist cloth and everything was back to perfect.

Not that the story helps you at all, but before you use the .40 cal, run it through a dishwasher cycle with a modest amount of cascade.  Allow to dry on a radiator for a few days.  It is solid state after all...


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## Steevo (Mar 13, 2014)

Sasqui said:


> Splattered Koolance fluid on a MB long time ago, dapped with a towel and everything worked fine... for a month or two.  System became very unstable and after a bunch of BIOS flashes, finally took out the memory to find blue dried Koolance fluid residue stuck on the traces.  Wiped off with a moist cloth and everything was back to perfect.
> 
> Not that the story helps you at all, but before you use the .40 cal, run it through a dishwasher cycle with a modest amount of cascade.  Allow to dry on a radiator for a few days.  It is solid state after all...


Our water here is hard. I am trying the distilled water first, and I may try the dishwasher if this fails. First things first though. 


If all else fails what ammo should I use, FMJ, JHP or some steel shot? I have all three rounds, I just don't know if its enough to mushroom a JHP.


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## Sasqui (Mar 14, 2014)

Steevo said:


> If all else fails what ammo should I use, FMJ, JHP or some steel shot? I have all three rounds, I just don't know if its enough to mushroom a JHP.



Definitely either hollow or steel shot.  FMJ is boring


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## Mindweaver (Mar 14, 2014)

Pick up a can of LPS CFC Free Electro Contact Cleaner. *It* will clean it and it drys in seconds. It's very useful to have around.

*EDIT: The can should last for a long time. *


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## Steevo (Mar 15, 2014)

I pulled it out tonight and rinsed it off, there was a bit of residue still left, I used the toothbrush again and then rinsed it with almost the rest of the gallon. Then I swung it around in my hand and then used the hair dryer. I will be at the shop tomorrow so I will grab a can of electrical cleaner and hose it off, then blast it again with canned air and hair dryer again, then perhaps give it a try.


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## Mussels (Mar 15, 2014)

Steevo said:


> I pulled it out tonight and rinsed it off, there was a bit of residue still left, I used the toothbrush again and then rinsed it with almost the rest of the gallon. Then I swung it around in my hand and then used the hair dryer. I will be at the shop tomorrow so I will grab a can of electrical cleaner and hose it off, then blast it again with canned air and hair dryer again, then perhaps give it a try.




please record the power on, in the slim chance there is fire and brimstone.


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## Bansaku (Mar 15, 2014)

Vario said:


> Isopropyl might also work as a cleaner.  Not sure I'd immerse the drive, might be hard to dry internal components out even if you wait a couple days.



Not sure if it will help now, but I will +1 on isopropyl alcohol being a great cleaner for boards and chips. I have been using it for years for all sorts of internal cleaning of electronics. It even works great for removing thermal paste from cpu/heatsinks. The alcohol leaves no residue and evaporates quickly.


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## MT Alex (Mar 15, 2014)

Steevo said:


> If all else fails what ammo should I use, FMJ, JHP or some steel shot? I have all three rounds, I just don't know if its enough to mushroom a JHP.



If you are worried about not causing enough carnage, tape the offending SSD to a small propane canister and shoot it next to a small fire.  DO pay special attention to watch for shrapnel.


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## Mindweaver (Mar 15, 2014)

Steevo said:


> I pulled it out tonight and rinsed it off, there was a bit of residue still left, I used the toothbrush again and then rinsed it with almost the rest of the gallon. Then I swung it around in my hand and then used the hair dryer. I will be at the shop tomorrow so I will grab a can of electrical cleaner and hose it off, then blast it again with canned air and hair dryer again, then perhaps give it a try.



I've got my fingers crossed for you buddy!  Which electrical cleaner are you going to use? CRC seems to be pretty cheap. WD-40 has an Electrical cleaner and it's pretty cheap, but I've not used it.



Mussels said:


> please record the power on, in the slim chance there is fire and brimstone.



lol


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## Steevo (Mar 15, 2014)

I forgot my keys and apparently no one came in to the store today.  So either I have to go back or it will be Monday.

Valspar makes it for us, I have used it a lot and it leaves no residue on anything, and its explosively good too, so perhaps if it fails the rest of the can will go to that end.


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## xorbe (Mar 16, 2014)

in for win!


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## micropage7 (Mar 16, 2014)

what about warm water to clean the salt or any residue on it? it looks 50-50


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## Steevo (Mar 21, 2014)

Tried it and its still dead. 



So its time to put it in the grave unless someone has a brilliant idea. I have not tried to hookup to it with a serial connection, don't really have time. 


So sometime in the next week or two I will be shooting it with a .40 JHP taped to a can of something flammable with something on fire by it for special effects. Video for sure.


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## xorbe (Mar 21, 2014)

rust must be bridging gaps?


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## The Von Matrices (Mar 21, 2014)

Sasqui said:


> Not that the story helps you at all, but before you use the .40 cal, run it through a dishwasher cycle with a modest amount of cascade.  Allow to dry on a radiator for a few days.  It is solid state after all...



I highly recommend against the dishwasher (at least with conventional dishwasher detergent).  Dishwasher detergents are much more caustic than the liquid dishwashing soap you might use if washing by hand.  I'm sure the dishwasher detergent would remove all the salt residue, but it would also remove all of the copper on the PCB traces as well.  This is the reason why copper pots aren't supposed to go in the dishwasher.


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## Arjai (Mar 21, 2014)

Can't wait for the VIDEO!!! Woop!!!


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## lilhasselhoffer (Mar 21, 2014)

So two questions here.

1) Have you tried an actual electronics cleaner?  Any automotive store will sell that crap, and other than being insanely flammable, there's nothing to lose.

2) Have you tried an oven.  OCZ seems to cheap out on appropriate levels of flux and solder in their SMD processes.  A brief flow through a reflow oven (a toaster oven ghetto mod can be viable, check out hackaday.com for instructions) might be enough to reset the memory chips and controller.


Assuming neither of these works, go for some ether/starting fluid.  Big bang, high temperatures, and high volatility.


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## Athlon2K15 (Mar 21, 2014)

Its an OCZ, not worth saving.


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## Mussels (Mar 21, 2014)

AthlonX2 said:


> Its an OCZ, not worth saving.



i like you for that post, because my only OCZ SSD died a horrible death.

I dislike you for that post, because a lot of the people working at OCZ are really awesome if you get to talk to them


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## ne6togadno (Mar 21, 2014)

sub for video


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## Sasqui (Mar 21, 2014)

The Von Matrices said:


> I highly recommend against the dishwasher (at least with conventional dishwasher detergent).  Dishwasher detergents are much more caustic than the liquid dishwashing soap you might use if washing by hand.  I'm sure the dishwasher detergent would remove all the salt residue, but it would also remove all of the copper on the PCB traces as well.  This is the reason why copper pots aren't supposed to go in the dishwasher.



At this point, what does he have to lose?  Is a .40 cal hollow point less caustic to copper?

And BTW, I've cleaned a motherboard (a long time ago) and a keyboard (recently) in a dishwasher using a very moderate amount of cascade, no problems at all.


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## RCoon (Mar 21, 2014)

Steevo said:


> So sometime in the next week or two I will be shooting it with a .40 JHP taped to a can of something flammable with something on fire by it for special effects. Video for sure.



I don't think I've been this excited about a TPU thread since forever. I want to see this. It will go down in history, and spread across the internet, sending shudders down the line workers spines at OCZ.


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## Mussels (Mar 21, 2014)

RCoon said:


> I don't think I've been this excited about a TPU thread since forever. I want to see this. It will go down in history, and spread across the internet, sending shudders down the line workers spines at OCZ.



no one was this excited when i put up pics of me shooting a hard drive


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## Sasqui (Mar 21, 2014)

Mussels said:


> no one was this excited when i put up pics of me shooting a hard drive



Link, link link!  I'm excited!!!


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## RCoon (Mar 21, 2014)

Mussels said:


> no one was this excited when i put up pics of me shooting a hard drive


 
LINK IT TO ME

HARDOCP shooting 18 3.5" HDD's with a Armor piercing incendiery round from a .50 Cal


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## Mussels (Mar 21, 2014)

i have no idea if they were on TPU or GN now, cant find them. consider it an easter egg hunt!


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## Sasqui (Mar 21, 2014)

Mussels said:


> i have no idea if they were on TPU or GN now, cant find them. consider it an easter egg hunt!



When W1zard shifted over to the new forums, a lot of the older archives didn't get moved.  I was looking for older posts too with now luck 



RCoon said:


> LINK IT TO ME
> HARDOCP shooting 18 3.5" HDD's with a Armor piercing incendiery round from a .50 Cal




17 is the answer!  I've fired a similar .50 cal. in the same stance.  Learned the hard way that you do not want your right elbow in the ground.


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## Capitan Harlock (Mar 21, 2014)

Steevo said:


> On a side note mechanical hard disks suck....hard, and that is as nice as I can be.



for me its nonsense tell that hard disks suck when ssds dies like flyes.
Hard drive forever if ssd continue to die like this and you have to make the scientist for bring it back xd


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## FX-GMC (Mar 21, 2014)

Capitan Harlock said:


> for me its nonsense tell that hard disks suck when ssds dies like flyes.
> Hard drive forever if ssd continue to die like this and you have to make the scientist for bring it back xd



I don't see where your comment makes any sense.  The ssd died because coolant go into it. That could easily kill a mechanical drive.

I've seen many mechanical drives die.  I have yet to have any of my SSD die.


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## RCoon (Mar 21, 2014)

FX-GMC said:


> That could easily kill a mechanical drive



I have 150 spare mechanical HDD's sat approximately 30cm away from me. All of them work but are End of Life. If anybody requires answers regarding "what kills a HDD?" answering, I can oblige.


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## Sasqui (Mar 21, 2014)

RCoon said:


> I have 150 spare mechanical HDD's sat approximately 30cm away from me. All of them work but are End of Life. If anybody requires answers regarding "what kills a HDD?" answering, I can oblige.



My fridge is covered with HDD magnets lol.  I want MOAR.


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## FX-GMC (Mar 21, 2014)

RCoon said:


> I have 150 spare mechanical HDD's sat approximately 30cm away from me. All of them work but are End of Life. If anybody requires answers regarding "what kills a HDD?" answering, I can oblige.



Well you can skip doing this.  I hope they were wearing eye protection when they went Full Retard.


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## Sasqui (Mar 21, 2014)

FX-GMC said:


> Well you can skip doing this.  I hope they were wearing eye protection when they went Full Retard.



Slightly off topic...  that reminds me of this:


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## Ferrum Master (Mar 21, 2014)

Oh noes... use only THIS for cleaning, do not use vodka, or other stuff too, as it was being held aluminum containers and thus have metal ions that conduct therefore some random behavior later occurs with high frequency IC products.


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## RCoon (Mar 21, 2014)

Sasqui said:


> Slightly off topic...  that reminds me of this:


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## Nordic (Mar 21, 2014)

Mussels said:


> no one was this excited when i put up pics of me shooting a hard drive


I was...


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## Steevo (Mar 21, 2014)

xorbe said:


> rust must be bridging gaps?


I don't see ANYTHING on it. it loos as pristine as the day I got it now.


FX-GMC said:


> Well you can skip doing this.  I hope they were wearing eye protection when they went Full Retard.



Ahh the old deathstar drives. Much more reliable than many gave them credit for.


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## Capitan Harlock (Mar 22, 2014)

FX-GMC said:


> I don't see where your comment makes any sense.  The ssd died because coolant go into it. That could easily kill a mechanical drive.
> 
> I've seen many mechanical drives die.  I have yet to have any of my SSD die.


I dont think that the coolant could go so easyli inside an hd instead of a ssd that is only 4 screw and done is open so xd


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## fullinfusion (Mar 22, 2014)

AthlonX2 said:


> Its an OCZ, not worth saving.


Don't take offense   

I've had a number of ocz drives, and never had a single one new, or used fail on any of them fail.. 
Ocz are about the best out there imo

Anyways to the OP, Do a quick distilled water bath and give it a light pat down to remove most of the water.
Put it in a zip-lock bag half full of rice and seal it up for 3-4 days... Any moister in or around the chips will be drawn out.

Doing the baking trick works for solder joints sure, but the water in the chips it self will not escape. It turns to steam and will condense back to H20.

Try the rice trick... It worked every time I forgot my cell phone in my cloths when I did the laundry


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## FX-GMC (Mar 22, 2014)

Capitan Harlock said:


> I dont think that the coolant could go so easyli inside an hd instead of a ssd that is only 4 screw and done is open so xd



There is a pcb on the hard drive so XD.


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## Capitan Harlock (Mar 22, 2014)

FX-GMC said:


> There is a pcb on the hard drive so XD.


its different than an ssd so i think the pcb of the hd could shield the platters and the hd could remain safe instead of the ssd that have everything on it.
Will see if the ssd regain life or not.
For me have space and good enough speed at worth more that super fast speed and low space thats it xd


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## FX-GMC (Mar 22, 2014)

Capitan Harlock said:


> its different than an ssd so i think the pcb of the hd could shield the platters and the hd could remain safe instead of the ssd that have everything on it.
> Will see if the ssd regain life or not.
> For me have space and good enough speed at worth more that super fast speed and low space thats it xd



Nothing wrong with being stuck in the dark ages.


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## Steevo (Mar 23, 2014)

Capitan Harlock said:


> I dont think that the coolant could go so easyli inside an hd instead of a ssd that is only 4 screw and done is open so xd




Why are you crapping in my thread? Seriously it was my fault the drive died, any mechanical drive would have died in the same place, so all your arguments are irrelevant and ignorant. As soon as I get a chance I am getting either another SSD to rebuild and reinstall or I will be rebuilding my whole system and will be using faster SSD's in their place. 
Perhaps you miss the point where I also have somewhere around 10TB of mechanical storage and most of it in RAID too, my backup of truly important stuff happens to external mechanical drives.

All that being said I trust the SSD's as much as I do mechanical, its just the cost per byte is prohibitively expensive to perform backups onto SSD's. 

As others have mentioned have fun with your grand theories about SSD's and go away.


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## Capitan Harlock (Mar 23, 2014)

Steevo said:


> Why are you crapping in my thread? Seriously it was my fault the drive died, any mechanical drive would have died in the same place, so all your arguments are irrelevant and ignorant. As soon as I get a chance I am getting either another SSD to rebuild and reinstall or I will be rebuilding my whole system and will be using faster SSD's in their place.
> Perhaps you miss the point where I also have somewhere around 10TB of mechanical storage and most of it in RAID too, my backup of truly important stuff happens to external mechanical drives.
> 
> All that being said I trust the SSD's as much as I do mechanical, its just the cost per byte is prohibitively expensive to perform backups onto SSD's.
> ...



Calm down man you know what is an opinion?
If you know what means opinion , well dont make the angry for nothing and shut up.
Im telling what i think wherever i want so i dont need your permission and you dont have the rights to tell me what to do.
For me you can explode with your pc if you cant talk with people with different opinion XD


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## FX-GMC (Mar 23, 2014)

Capitan Harlock said:


> Calm down man you know what is an opinion?
> If you know well dont make the cool for nothing and shut up im telling what i think wherever i whant i dont need your permission and you dont tell me what to do for me you can explode with your pc if you cant talk with people with different opinion XD



Your opinion has nothing to do with the topic at hand and no one here asked you what you thought about SSDs.  That is the issue.

Also learn2english cause I don't know what the hell you actually said there.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 23, 2014)

Capitan Harlock said:


> its different than an ssd so i think the pcb of the hd could shield the platters and the hd could remain safe instead of the ssd that have everything on it.
> Will see if the ssd regain life or not.
> For me have space and good enough speed at worth more that super fast speed and low space thats it xd



Its no different... There is more of a chance for a platter drive too die due to liquid, because the pcb and some other parts are not covered, where as for an ssd, its completely covered, and the ports are the only parts exposed, granted if you get enough water on an SSD it can get in through the edges where the ssd casing meet up.



FX-GMC said:


> Your opinion has nothing to do with the topic at hand and no one here asked you what you thought about SSDs.  That is the issue.
> Also learn2english cause I don't know what the hell you actually said there.



I think hes confused opinion with fact, and trying make his "opinion" sound factual.


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## Capitan Harlock (Mar 24, 2014)

FX-GMC said:


> Your opinion has nothing to do with the topic at hand and no one here asked you what you thought about SSDs.  That is the issue.
> 
> Also learn2english cause I don't know what the hell you actually said there.



Despite the stupid thanks on your post i have simply responded at is statemant about hd sucks when for the price you pay for me is not worth it thats it + if you have your hd or ssd in the danger of being covered with liquid the problem is not the hardware but its you that dont pay attention at your things and its a matter of FACT.

ALSO english is not my first language but if you cant read what im writing just use your brain and read it because its not so difficult XD


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 24, 2014)

Capitan Harlock said:


> Despite the stupid thanks on your post i have simply responded at is statemant about hd sucks when for the price you pay for me is not worth it thats it + if you have your hd or ssd in the danger of being covered with liquid the problem is not the hardware but its you that dont pay attention at your things and its a matter of FACT.
> 
> ALSO english is not my first language but if you cant read what im writing just use your brain and read it because its not so difficult XD



i think it would be in your best interest to just stop posting.


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## sneekypeet (Mar 24, 2014)

With all the reports flying around about this thread, it is much easier just to close it and hope that you all got it out of your systems and this doesn't spill into other threads. If you all would like to continue telling each other what to do and how to do it, we have this cool thing called PMs/Conversations


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