Recovering data from a water damaged phone

[Clippy]

My father dropped his mobile, Nokia 6700, in some water earlier today.

He managed to fish it out quickly and says he removed the battery not long after.

When I popped over, I took a look at it but can't open it due to the security screws.

I plan to buy a security bit set this week anyway so should be able to open it but I doubt I'll be able to get the phone working again.

In the meantime, my father advised me a whole bunch of his contacts are stored on the phone.

Does anyone know or have experience of recovering such data in these circumstances?

[Olly]

I'd say before you start dismantling it is there not some kind of solvent wash that can be used to get rid of any salts and deposits from the water then after you just really dry it out thoroughly?

I've heard plenty of tales of phones, cameras and stuff that, once fully dried out, come back to life.

[Moscow Mule]

Stick it in a ziploc bag with some silica gel sacs and leave it there for a week. Hopefully will have dried it out enough to get the numbers.

A good time to introduce the subject of regular backups...

[scooterscot]

hairdryer

[FiveTimes]

My daughter dropped her new phone in the toilet on Christmas day last year. I took the sim, battery etc apart and placed in the airing cupboard. It started to work at the end of the day, but there was a strange icon on the screen - however this also went after a couple of days and is still going strong.


Put it in the airing cupboard and leave.

[dang65]

Yeah, as above, it's amazing how they revive from even a complete drenching. I got one of my phones completely soaked in a massive rainstorm at a festival once and it took about a week to recover, but recover it did.

Tip: Don't put the battery on a hot radiator to dry, as one of my kids did.

[Wilmslow]

Stick it in a bag og rice, then place in the airing cupboard (obviously after stripping it right back).

Don't use a hairdryer!!

[DaveB]

What others have said.

Take all the covers off that you can without dismantling it and put it in a warm dry place for a few days and leave it. Dont be tempted to test it early.

Thoroughly dried out there is no reason it shouldn't be recoverable. MrsB managed to put my iPhone though the washing machine and tumble dryer and although the screen backlight died it still worked as a phone and I was able to get all the data back off it before getting in replaced.

[Sockpuppet]

Might be worth washing it in de mineralised water to make sure any crap is flushed out then do as above for a week or so.


I used to work repairing phones for Vodafone and if all else fails take it to a Nokia repair centre they can read the memory without having to turn the phone on.

[Clippy]

Thanks all.

Duly placed in a bag of rice in a warm location for the next week.