DonaldG

General Advice for water (liquid) spillage into ANY electronic kit. This info is given in good faith BUT acting on it is at your own risk.

1) Immediately remove the power/battery. This is essential, not just for the safety factor if using mains power; BUT if the unit has survived the wetting and has not done any 'electronic' damage... Leaving any power will cause or assist with 'electrolosis' and slowly etch away the copper tracks of of the Printed Circuit Board.

2) If the water (liquid) is not salt water, then once all power/battery is removed, place the unit in a warm DRY place such as an airing cupboard for at least 48 hours or more. Try to open the unit up to allow air circulation.
(If the liquid is salty (sea) or acid, do the following ONLY IF YOU FEEL IT IS APPLICABLE! Extra emergency action may be necessary: depending on the amount of contamination and the value of the item, a rinsing/or immersion in fresh water *may* be needed. In some instances total & constant immersion in distilled water could be required until a specialist dealer/manufaturer is consulted.)

Note: usually the hard drive will not have water ingress into the inside of it because it is a hermetically sealed unit - even if the main machine is shot to hell, the HD should be readable in another machine & often the data is valued many times more than the machine, especially if the machine is used for commercial activities! (Hint: Backup). The exception to this is if the water ingress interupted a set or writing to the HD...

Anecdote: I used to run a Radio Communications repair workshop. On occasions we would get a 2-way radio the has had coffee, Pepsi etc spilled into it which dried into a sticky goo. We would remove the PCB and actually wash it in warm water and detergent 'scrubbing' it with a soft half inch paint brush. Rince thoroughly and shake off as much as possible. Then leave in a warm drying cupboard for two days. In 10 years, we did not loose a single unit! sometimes we had to repair etched track though!)

A couple of years ago, I survived a games consul accessory that a youngster had dropped own the toilet pan (I didn't ask if the was dropped before or after the pan had been used!)

I hope this information gives food for thought.