Re: Minimum Humidity for long term storage of computer equipment?


"Lostgallifreyan" <no-one@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Peter Olcott" <olcott@xxxxxxx> wrote in
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"Lostgallifreyan" <no-one@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Ken Finney" <kenneth.c.finney@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
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<barry@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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In sci.electronics.repair Peter Olcott <olcott@xxxxxxx> wrote:

: My vacuum packaging is hermetically sealed.

Might be good if all of this sealing didn't generate Electrostatic
Discharge also. Often, pressurized air/vacuum can generate ESD.

I don't know why it's important to keep the computer vs. storing
the data instead. It's likely the capacitors will eventually
depolarize over time if they're not powered up.

some things to think about....

b.

Good point, Aluminum Electrolytic capacitors may not work after 10
years.






I think they'll hold up quite well. Not sure about depolarising, but
I've found a lot of gear works fine after twenty years or more of
storage in a cool dry cupboard, even with electrolytics in. I bet
those computers were built with high quality caps too. If you avoid
changes of heat and pressure, you'll avoid the most degrading effects
on them.

What will help is if you power up the machines every five years and
let them run for a week or two, and like someone else said, batteries
are a dreadful risk, so remove all of them during storage.

Even the Lithuim Coin Cells?




Yes, because their content is HIGHLY corrosive, and in a confined space is
risky as hell if they outgas for any reason.

They'll be backing up the BIOS config, so you will want something that can
read that and back it up to file, and restore it at will. The interweb is
most bountiful, but you'll have to test carefully to see if those machines
have a BIOS that can be read by whatever tool you find. You could also note
the settings on paper, I bet those BIOS's don't have many things to
remember.

These handheld units always prompt you for all the bios settings whenever both
of the batteries are removed. The bios setting are really trivial, owner name
and such.


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