Roaches in my External Hard Drive!

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larrytxeast

I just got a nice external hard drive, a 500 Gigabyte Western Digital
(My Book Essentials Edition). Problem is, I live in a place where
roaches are everywhere, even with Boric Acid being used. I have found
them hiding in creepy places like my boombox (I took it apart and it
had well over a dozen in there) and even the cavities in VHS tapes.

Today, I saw one crawling into the holes in my external hard drive.
It's the first time I noticed this, although I did once see one do
likewise with my 4x6 printer and, after wrapping the 4x6 printer up in
plastic bags for several days so it couldn't come & go to get
food/water (and others couldn't join in), I never saw it again, and the
printer works fine. So today I did likewise with the external hard
drive.

I tried to look for screws where I could take the shell off and flush
that demon out, but it appears rivited in place. Do you suggest going
to a computer store and having them do it? Could I leave the hard drive
in a plastic bag permanently to prevent this from happening again, or
would that cause problems with ventilation.

I HATE roaches, why did God invent them? Nothing but a waste, period.
(Argh!)

LRH
 
I just got a nice external hard drive, a 500 Gigabyte Western Digital
(My Book Essentials Edition). Problem is, I live in a place where
roaches are everywhere, even with Boric Acid being used. I have found
them hiding in creepy places like my boombox (I took it apart and it
had well over a dozen in there) and even the cavities in VHS tapes.
Click to expand...

You will never be able to rid your hardware of roaches as long as you
live in a place with roaches. I've been in food service plants where
they were able to run through electrical conduit, lived in caustic slime
pits, etc...

You need to move, if you want to rid yourself of this problem - and
don't take your items with you as you'll be taking the roaches too.
 
Leythos said:
You will never be able to rid your hardware of roaches as long as you
live in a place with roaches. I've been in food service plants where
they were able to run through electrical conduit, lived in caustic slime
pits, etc...

You need to move, if you want to rid yourself of this problem - and
don't take your items with you as you'll be taking the roaches too.
Click to expand...


Move during the winter and leave everything on the Uhaul for a three or
four days so everything will freeze. That is almost the only way to
guarantee that you won't take any with you if that place is infested
that bad.
 
Niniel said:
Unless you don't plan on using the drive all the time, do not wrap it up in
plastic due to possible heat problems. And whenever you do use it, unpack it
to allow proper ventilation.
If you need an external drive, I suggest exchanging this one for one that
doesn't have such large openings for ventilation. Some are totally
encapsuled. They'll probably have less capacity though.
Click to expand...


You'd be surprise at how small an opening they can get into.
 
Move during the winter and leave everything on the Uhaul for a three or
four days so everything will freeze. That is almost the only way to
guarantee that you won't take any with you if that place is infested
that bad.
Click to expand...

That won't work, as you can freeze them and they will come out of the
freeze just fine, not to mention the eggs and that they can eat each
other for food - they can actually eat about anything to survive.
 
Leythos said:
That won't work, as you can freeze them and they will come out of the
freeze just fine, not to mention the eggs and that they can eat each
other for food - they can actually eat about anything to survive.
Click to expand...

Don't have the problem much in Spain as the walls in apartments here are
solid, not drywall hung on wood frames, affording the roaches a perfect
place to live and propagate.

Maybe if the OP used DDT on the UHaul ...

Alias
 
Leythos said:
That won't work, as you can freeze them and they will come out of the
freeze just fine, not to mention the eggs and that they can eat each
other for food - they can actually eat about anything to survive.
Click to expand...

You would be surprised how well it works for the indoor cockroaches,
German, American,ect, as they do not survive the cold. Outside
cockroaches, Oriental do survive the cold but they do not live indoors
only come in to eat.
 
I would add a Raid 'bug bomb' to the UHaul. Then carefully clean up the
powder and the dead bugs.
 
caver1 said:
Move during the winter and leave everything on the Uhaul for a three
or four days so everything will freeze. That is almost the only way to
guarantee that you won't take any with you if that place is infested
that bad.
Click to expand...

That worked for me about 35 years ago when I moved out of a roach infested
place. The temp was 10-15 below zero and we had to drive 100 miles. The
trailer sat out all night when we got to the new place. I didn't own much
stuff at the time so I went through everything as I unpacked and cleaned out
all the dead roaches and eggs I could find. I never saw any of those roaches
again.
 
DandyDon said:
I would add a Raid 'bug bomb' to the UHaul. Then carefully clean up the
powder and the dead bugs.
Click to expand...
Bug bombs only work on the live roaches. Does nothing to the eggs.:-(
 
I just got a nice external hard drive, a 500 Gigabyte Western Digital
(My Book Essentials Edition). Problem is, I live in a place where
roaches are everywhere, even with Boric Acid being used. I have found
them hiding in creepy places like my boombox (I took it apart and it
had well over a dozen in there) and even the cavities in VHS tapes.

Today, I saw one crawling into the holes in my external hard drive.
Click to expand...

No. They entered the external enclosure, not the hard drive itself.
It's the first time I noticed this, although I did once see one do
likewise with my 4x6 printer and, after wrapping the 4x6 printer up in
plastic bags for several days so it couldn't come & go to get
food/water (and others couldn't join in), I never saw it again, and the
printer works fine. So today I did likewise with the external hard
drive.

I tried to look for screws where I could take the shell off and flush
that demon out, but it appears rivited in place. Do you suggest going
to a computer store and having them do it? Could I leave the hard drive
in a plastic bag permanently to prevent this from happening again, or
would that cause problems with ventilation.
Click to expand...

Hard drive and the external enclosure's power supply needs some ventilation
for cooling.
I HATE roaches, why did God invent them? Nothing but a waste, period.
(Argh!)
Click to expand...

They are more of a visual distress thing, than anything else. Yes, they
carry germs etc. Can't be too bad noting your take on the roach population
count though.
 
I just got a nice external hard drive, a 500 Gigabyte Western Digital
(My Book Essentials Edition). Problem is, I live in a place where
roaches are everywhere, even with Boric Acid being used. I have found
them hiding in creepy places like my boombox (I took it apart and it
had well over a dozen in there) and even the cavities in VHS tapes.

Today, I saw one crawling into the holes in my external hard drive.
It's the first time I noticed this, although I did once see one do
likewise with my 4x6 printer and, after wrapping the 4x6 printer up in
plastic bags for several days so it couldn't come & go to get
food/water (and others couldn't join in), I never saw it again, and the
printer works fine. So today I did likewise with the external hard
drive.

I tried to look for screws where I could take the shell off and flush
that demon out, but it appears rivited in place. Do you suggest going
to a computer store and having them do it? Could I leave the hard drive
in a plastic bag permanently to prevent this from happening again, or
would that cause problems with ventilation.

I HATE roaches, why did God invent them? Nothing but a waste, period.
(Argh!)

LRH
Click to expand...

The Japanese do a really cool roach-catching device. It's shaped like a
little house and they all crawl into it in the middle of the night. Most
effective method I ever saw. One of those next to your hard drive would
probably do the trick. My Japanese isn't up to remembering what it was
called though.
 
Jon said:
The Japanese do a really cool roach-catching device. It's shaped like a
little house and they all crawl into it in the middle of the night. Most
effective method I ever saw. One of those next to your hard drive would
probably do the trick. My Japanese isn't up to remembering what it was
called though.
Click to expand...

They're called Roach Motels and are available at any supermarket.

Alias
 
I got it out--actually, there were TWO of them, I got both of them out
of there.

I did so by VERY carefully prying open the enclosure; it's held in by
friction and "snaps" in place, would be better if it SCREWED into
place, but anyway. I was very careful and didn't take the enclosure off
more than I had to, or bang the unit or jar it around, obviously, and
managed to get both of them out of there and give them their inevitable
death penalty. I also blew out any dust or whatever to make sure no
eggs were left behind.

For now, it's unhooked and wrapped up in a Ziploc bag. Maybe I could
make an enclosure for it, perhaps a Tupperware-like device, all sealed
up--except for very tiny holes drilled into it throughout, think of
those small ones like what Boil-In-Bag things of rice are like, and
also place my small desk fan near it to blow air onto it to make
double-sure it stays cool enough.

LRH
 
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