Need Help!!!!, ANTS in my Hard Drive!!!

[Pariah]

That shouldn't be possible. Hard drives are sealed to prevent any sort of dust or other airborne debris into the drive. The only opening to the outside should be a blow hole for regulating air pressure which has a filter on it that no ant could ever fit through. I'll believe this story when I see the pictures.

 

[Goyik]

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera to take a picture when the ants started to came out, I'm not sure exactly where did they came from, i'm not sure if got to the plate (i dont think so, and i really hope so), but at least i can say that they came out from every open hole in the hard drive when it got hot, aproximately I smashed about 20-25 ants, just right now I'm smashing a lonely one, i hope this is the last one. Also found debris from the isolating cover of the hard drive, looks like they were eating this thing.

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What chances do I have to definitively damage the disk if I freeze it, as suggested by budman

 

[Budmantom]

lol

 

[everman]

They can't get inside to the actually platters, hard disks are sealed because even the smallest dust particles can cause problems. It sounds like they may be causing problems with the controller board though. I'd try blowing them out with compressed air, the entire pc actually and wipe (not spray) poison around it.

edit: I do recall finding a lizard in my case once. Still alive and didn't cause any problems. Found it when I opened the case so I guess it wasn't there for too long.

 

[gamerj]

So, ants are crapping in your hard drive? ... sorry man but ...thats funny!

 

[Baked]

Attention whore making stuff up. Those ants would die the moment you turn the HD on, it's just too hot and too much G in there for ants to live.

 

[Dennis Travis]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
you need RAID, and I don't mean 0

Hmmm... wonder would would happen if he did spray RAID on his HDD?

 

[fluxquantum]

ROTFLMAO!!

 

[bearxor]

shens

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: everman
They can't get inside to the actually platters, hard disks are sealed because even the smallest dust particles can cause problems. It sounds like they may be causing problems with the controller board though. I'd try blowing them out with compressed air, the entire pc actually and wipe (not spray) poison around it.

edit: I do recall finding a lizard in my case once. Still alive and didn't cause any problems. Found it when I opened the case so I guess it wasn't there for too long.

I thought this was another parody thread because of that ^

I've opened up a really old hard drive (~500 mbs), and they are sealed TIGHT. It was 100% clean. If you're not joking, then where were they crawling from? Beneath the circuit board?

 

[ROcHE]

bs

 

[Amaroque]

I use RAID0, but I've heard RAID MAX is best for ants. :laugh:

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Baked
Attention whore making stuff up. Those ants would die the moment you turn the HD on, it's just too hot and too much G in there for ants to live.

:roll:

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

Originally posted by: Jeffyboy
Ants huh...
maybe they are trying to fix the problems... i'd leave them in there ;-)

Jeff

hahahahhaha, I'd task the drive like hell and burn them out muahahha, I wonder what was in their to entice them? maybe you have some kind of enemy.. thats freaky though..

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: Baked
Attention whore making stuff up. Those ants would die the moment you turn the HD on, it's just too hot and too much G in there for ants to live.

Absolutely no sense of humor.

 

[sharkeeper]

If you really have ants or other critters in your computer, I suggest inert fumigation.

Purchase 5 kg of dry ice. Put the computer in a cooler or old (unused) fridge. Put the case in the box. Make sure the case is not touching the sack with the dry ice slabs. NEVER seal the vessel containing the dry ice.

Allow this to sit for 48 hours. It will cool down, however it's not cold that kills it's CO2. I've done this before with RV's and yachts and it kills everything. You don't need a license to use dry ice unlike Vikane which you should not use unless certified in the first place!

Cheers!

 

[Goyik]

24 Hours after I found the first ant, they are still comming out & are driving me crazy, i got 7 ants in 45 minutes the hard disk has been powered up, last night i blowed it hot several times whit a hair dryier, got 6 ants, later I stored the HD in a sealed antistatic bag, found 1 ant in the bag this morning, testing the disk is still getting S.M.A.R.T. errors, and lost all partitions again. At this time can't figure out what can I do to recover the disk, i don't wana kill the ants inside, i prefer to let them leave the disk alive, and smash them with my pretty own fingers.

 

[sharkeeper]

Do you have a foodsaver? You can seal the drive in a bag. Ants will die in a vacuum.

Cheers!

 

[erikistired]

parody threads belong in off topic.

 

[Xab]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
you're lucky it wasnt raccoons.

Originally posted by: CraitRT
you need RAID, and I don't mean 0

:laugh: these were my favorites =D funny thread

 

[caylean]

Well, this is a freakin old Post already and so i am nercoing it... but only because I just have the same situation here.

Would love to give you pics, but thats now not possible anymore... Redmi 2 with crDroid messed up my camera, need new Custom Rom maybe ^^" .. and also there are no more Ants coming out of the "Blow hole"

Happened over night. Day before they were in my Router where I kicked them out and cleaned everything up. Checked in the Morning and yay, no more ants in the Router.

Turned on Computer and heard "clicking" sound from my External HDD. Turned it off and went on working, when i needed my ext HDD I had turned it on again and the clicking came back again.
Checking it more closely I found that red Ants were coming out of the Blowhole.... WTF!
Disasembled the thing and I found them under the Circut board, in the 'ribs' and everywhere they could get.

Well, seems like i am fu**ed now.. was my backup HDD -.- .. only good thing.. that it lasted 8 years without any problems ever... So well, its imo way past its expected lifespan .. usually I get a new System HDD every 3-4 years ...

What pi**es me on the most, that was the hdd where 65gb of the X-Files were stored ... and of that I have no other Backup *sigh*

As funny as it might be fore the most previous posters.. it su**s if it happens to you... but hey.. I am living now in the Philippines and it seems to be a common problem here...... just that you find that out only after you start searching for a solution and you find in the first 20 Results an unusual high amout of Philippine related situations ^^

Damn you ants!

 

[ronbo613]

Send the hard drive into low earth orbit. The ants will die from the cold and lack of oxygen.

 

[caylean]

if the HDD wouldn't be that old I would go for an exchange of the pcb and hope that the ants didn't actually were inside the hdd but a layer between the visible metal sheet outside and the hdd casing under it ...
no idea hw it exactly is sealed, but somewhat it looks like the ants might not really have been INSIDE the hdd, but inside the space between the 'shield' and seal...

Well, 8 years old hdd, don't see much chance of finding a working pcb for it here on the philippines nor ebay ^^"

 

[DigDog]

HOW exactly did an at get inside a sealed metal shell.

 

[JeffMD]

Your ants may have gotten inside some holes, but they are not inside the hard drive. Some drives are hermetically sealed. Some utilise a breather hole with filter system. Your ants are not getting past that.