storing a computer for 9months

what is a good way to store a computer for 9 months. i live in colorado, in a

dry climate.

First, take the whole thing and give it a good wash. The dishwasher is a good place but

don't use any bleach. Take all the cables and braid them together so they have company.

Unplug the hard drives and put them in freezer bags to keep the data from evaporating.

Put the mouse in a separate box so it doesn't eat the other components; it can get pretty

hungry when it doesn't have power to feed on. Put everything in separate mylar bags, then

put all the bags in a steel or lead box with minimum 2 cm walls. Fill the container with

xenon, seal it hermetically and maintain at exactly 223.33 (repeating) degrees kelvin and

0.6 atmospheres of pressure. Make sure to use an earthquake-stable mounting (steel rods

drilled 18 feet into bedrock will do the trick).

 

Seriously? Dust out the inside and put it in a box in a place with low humidity. Think about

replacing the PRAM battery when you open it up again. Computers are generally very good

at sitting in one place for a long time :P

Josh: there really aren't too many parallels with needing to change the oil, etc.. just try to avoid extremes of temperature and moisture (dry's not so bad, but it does provide for greater risk of static discharge when moving things around, so ground yourself briefly to something any time you're about to handle some computer hardware that isn't, itself, well-grounded).

 

There is ONE thing to be thinking about, though: after nine months, almost any operating system or application will be out of date for patches, anti-virus updates, etc. When you next fire that machine up, be SURE you're behind a decent firewall and on a clean network so that you can get connected and catch up on patches before the machine gets tainted somehow. Patch first, surf and check e-mail, etc only AFTER the machine's completely back up to speed, security/safety wise.

 

Oh: make sure you have no CDs or Floppies, etc., in drives that have spring-loaded mechanisms. And, make sure that any SD, CF, USB, LAN, Firewire, or other plug-in connectors are disconnected. Not that you have much humidity, but corrosion is more likely where there's metal-on-metal contact (as in data connectors).

 

Have a good trip/deployment/semester/pregnancy/sentence as appropriate!

Wrap it in plastic. First, clean it out with a can of air and a brush. Then just wrap it up. Try to keep it away from strong magnetic sources, but other than that, you should be fine.

Disconnect any batteries, and wrap it up with a load of silicon gel bags.

And any rechargeable batteries are best left with a small charge, not completely flat.

Just send it to me. I'll keep it busy for the 9 months you won't be needing it and then there will be no worries. :)

thanks guys. i thought it was pretty simple. just wanted to make sure i was doing it right. i wish i were going on a vacation. we're just closing up shop at a rafting company for the off-season.

LOL ..

I just pulled out a laptop I had in the closet for three years. Battery dead, but it was old

anyway. I have a newer spare. Charged it, turned it on. Works perfectly.

 

Put a computer away for six months? Power off, unplug from wall and phone/comm line,

wave good bye. Maybe throw a rag over it if you are paranoid about dust... ;-)

 

G

I think the most critical thing that has yet to be mentioned is...

 

BACK UP YOUR DATA! :)

 

I had a machine that sat for probably a year without any special precautions and had no problems. But regular backups are always a good idea.

sell it and buy a new one in 9 month.