Liquid Damage
Liquid damage — MacBook, laptop, and computer
A spill is a timed problem. Corrosion starts immediately and keeps going as long as there’s liquid inside, and every attempt to turn the machine on to “see if it still works” makes both the repair and the data recovery harder.
What to do right now
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Power it off. Hold the power button down until it’s off. Don’t restart it to check.
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Unplug it and leave it unplugged. Don’t charge it.
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Turn it upside down, keyboard side down, on a towel — so what’s inside runs out instead of deeper in.
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Don’t put it in rice. It doesn’t work, and it puts starch and dust inside the machine.
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Don’t use a hair dryer. Heat drives liquid further in and damages components.
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Bring it in — same day if you can. Time is the one variable you control.
Two separate questions
A liquid-damaged machine raises two questions that don’t have the same answer: can the computer be repaired, and can the files be recovered. Often the second is possible when the first isn’t worth the money. DriveTech evaluates both and tells you which one you’re actually dealing with before any work is authorized.
What the evaluation covers
- How far the liquid traveled and how much corrosion has started
- Whether the storage can be separated from the damaged board
- A realistic repair-versus-replace recommendation
- Data recovery options if the machine isn’t economically repairable
What kind of liquid matters
Water is the best case. Coffee, juice, soda, wine, and salt water are worse — sugar and salt leave conductive residue behind that keeps causing damage after everything looks dry. Tell us what it was.