Ants Invade Hard Drive

[z21rhd]

Recently when booting up , was getting message that one of my drives (the 2nd partition - H drive)was inconsistant and that CHKDSK needed to run - result NO Probs

Then a couple of days later booted up got messgae that G drive was inconsistant needing CHKDSK (also H Drive) - result no problems. Subsequently every time I booted up I would get the same message for both drives - result after CHKDSKing = no problem and while booted up up the drives performed normally.

Anyway took the PC into Repair shop and after 7 hours was told that very species of and had tanen over the drive .

Took the machine home - it worked . 2 days later the Seagate drive failed (with 4 years left to run on its guarantee !

QUESTION :-

I have always understood that hardrives were sealed units that would preclude ants from getting inside to the disc itself ????? Could this be true ?

[astral]

A complete load of BS.

The disk units are hermetically sealed.

Even a tiny piece of dust can crash a disk.

You just had a disk heading for failure.

Hope you had good backups.

[alexth]

Recently when booting up , was getting message that one of my drives (the 2nd partition - H drive)was inconsistant and that CHKDSK needed to run - result NO Probs

Then a couple of days later booted up got messgae that G drive was inconsistant needing CHKDSK (also H Drive) - result no problems. Subsequently every time I booted up I would get the same message for both drives - result after CHKDSKing = no problem and while booted up up the drives performed normally.

Anyway took the PC into Repair shop and after 7 hours was told that very species of and had tanen over the drive .

Took the machine home - it worked . 2 days later the Seagate drive failed (with 4 years left to run on its guarantee !

QUESTION :-

I have always understood that hardrives were sealed units that would preclude ants from getting inside to the disc itself ????? Could this be true ?

I wouldn't want to imagine how your desk looks like

[singa-traz]

If needed, I was given the name of a company that can do HD recovery, and was told, you pay only if they recover ... something.

[rio666uk]

<deleted>

highly highly unlikely that ants are to blame here - i would hope anyway - as astral says, i think your disk was faulty from the start...

its a good one though

[h90]

ants: normaly the HD has stickers so they can not open it without void the warranty.

If the sticker ist still good, they didn't open it and it is simply BS.

IF they opened it and whatever they found, they void the warranty.....

Recently when booting up , was getting message that one of my drives (the 2nd partition - H drive)was inconsistant and that CHKDSK needed to run - result NO Probs

Then a couple of days later booted up got messgae that G drive was inconsistant needing CHKDSK (also H Drive) - result no problems. Subsequently every time I booted up I would get the same message for both drives - result after CHKDSKing = no problem and while booted up up the drives performed normally.

Anyway took the PC into Repair shop and after 7 hours was told that very species of and had tanen over the drive .

Took the machine home - it worked . 2 days later the Seagate drive failed (with 4 years left to run on its guarantee !

QUESTION :-

I have always understood that hardrives were sealed units that would preclude ants from getting inside to the disc itself ????? Could this be true ?

[Firefoxx]

Actually, Astral, *not* BS. I've had first-hand experience with ants in a harddrive, and I still have the drive to prove it (complete with ant farm).

Hard drives aren't *totally* sealed from the environment. They still have a little hole for air to get in, and a filter behind that hole to prevent any dust from contaminating the drive. Ants *can* and *will* get into that hole and eat through the filter. The hole is there to equalize pressure (high altitudes, heat, etc) and for something else (sorry, I forget the details from the Quantum seminar I attended 8 years ago).

The repair shop could have taken the drive to the distributor, and the distributor could have told them that the cause was ants. Let's not assume too much, since no details were given.

Weirder things have happened, people. Let's keep our minds open.

[breconion]

I always work on the assumption that once a diskdrive shows the least hiccup then it is time to change it.

I have many times been asked what is wrong with my computer and have told the questioner your hard drive is starting to fail. Get it changed as soon as possible.

Several times they have not bothered as it seems to be working only to find out that the HD fails several weeks later and they have lost all data.

If the HD starts to cause problems REPLACE it.

[z21rhd]

Actually, Astral, *not* BS. I've had first-hand experience with ants in a harddrive, and I still have the drive to prove it (complete with ant farm).

Hard drives aren't *totally* sealed from the environment. They still have a little hole for air to get in, and a filter behind that hole to prevent any dust from contaminating the drive. Ants *can* and *will* get into that hole and eat through the filter. The hole is there to equalize pressure (high altitudes, heat, etc) and for something else (sorry, I forget the details from the Quantum seminar I attended 8 years ago).

The repair shop could have taken the drive to the distributor, and the distributor could have told them that the cause was ants. Let's not assume too much, since no details were given.

Weirder things have happened, people. Let's keep our minds open.

Thanks Firefoxx, Good to know that this type of invasion has been seen before. I did not lose data as I save continuously. and double save if I encounter signs of possible failure.

The ants concerned were extremely small and will be found throughout Thailand.

Oligomyrmex yamatonis Terayama

Upper Taxa:/FORMICIDAE /Myrmicinae /Oligomyrmex

Original Article:

Forel, A. (1912) H. Sauter's Formosa-Ausbeute: Formicidae. Entomologische Mitteilungen 1: 45-81.

Description:

Total length around 1 mm in workers. Body color light reddish brown, heads of soldiers blackish. In soldiers: head 1.3 times as long as wide, with parallel sides in frontal view; vertex with a pair of tubercles, posterior margin of head strongly concave; mandibles each with 5 teeth; antennae 9-segmented; eyes small, with 2 or 3 facets, situated on the anterior portion of the head capsule; pro- and mesonotal dorsa raised in profile; mesopleuron simple, not divided by an oblique furrow; posterolateral margins of propodeum with a thin lamellate flange below the propodeal tooth; subpetiolar process small, forming a blunt triangle; head, mesosoma, petiole and postpetiole covered with punctures; head with many longitudinal rugae. In workers: Head slightly longer than wide in frontal view; mandibles each with 5 teeth; eyes each with only one facet, situated at midlength of head capsule in side view; thin lamellar flanges on posterolateral margins of propodeum; subpetiolar process obscure; head, mesosoma, petiole and postpetiole covered with small, coarse punctures.

Remarks:

This species was first recorded from Japan by Azuma (1951). Thereafter Japanese myrmecologists have consistently used the name O. sauteri for this relatively common ant. However, O. sauteri was originally described from Taiwan, and morphological comparison between Japanese and Taiwanese specimens suggests that, although they are similar, they represent separate species. The Japanese species has not been collected on Taiwan. Further taxonomic studies are needed to determine the exact taxonomic relationships of these two forms.

Distribution:

Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Nansei Is; Mainland China, Taiwan. Thailand