back to article WD dries out flood-trashed fab, pumps out first disks

WD has partially restored hard disk production at one of its flood-hit fabs in Thailand and expects to start pumping water from its second facility within ten days. The drive maker said that power at one of its buildings in Bang Pa-In - which had been under six feet of water since 15 October - was restored on 26 November and …

COMMENTS

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  1. Scott Broukell

    Be nice to think ....

    that the efforts those peeps are / have gone to might be rewarded with a little xmas bonus or whatever.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      xmass bonus

      yeah they still have a job !...

  2. Mage Silver badge

    So..

    Wait till the summer before doing Disk upgrades.

  3. The Cube

    They could start the machines up underwater

    and the drives they delivered would still be more reliable than a Seagate....

  4. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Dan White
      Alert

      Could be that because they were clean rooms, some of them with the more sensitive kit remained water tight.

      1. Rob Dobs

        not likely

        Most clean rooms I have seen work on the principal of positive air pressure.

        Clean air is pumped through air filters and into the clean room creating positive pressure.

        Usually simple holes let the air out, that could easily be invaded with water.

        Typically clean rooms have to be "cleaned" if their air filter system ever shuts down.

  5. nichomach
    Thumb Up

    That's pretty

    damned good going, hats off to them. I think for once the CEO's hyperbole...isn't.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: wait till summer

    ... 2013 - news report I saw a week or too ago about the effect of the floods on industry was talking to some people in Thailand who reconned that it could take 18 months to get back to production at the site they were at and added that as much of the equipment might need replacing then it was possible/probable that the factories might not ever be rebuilt on that location

  7. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
    FAIL

    WD - which last month enlisted the help of Thai frogmen in a bid to salvage equipment - has also removed submerged disk head slider manufacturing kit from the Bang Pa-In site for "assessment, decontamination and refurbishment"

    I think I'll wait a while before I buy any WD disks....

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    MTBF!

    Mean time Between Frogmen !!!

    C'mon, who in their right mind is going to buy such drives until its prooven they got all production kit back to original specification before relying on the new Atlantis range for reliability.

  9. Captain Thyratron

    Industry forges on!

    Anybody who can pull submerged hard drive manufacturing equipment out of brackish, silty water, make it work, and do so for cheaper than disposal and replacement has got my respect.

  10. Bernd Felsche
    Coat

    The Spin Cycle of the Terabytes

    Just thinking that it's an opportunity missed for a great headline before I fetch my coat.

  11. dssf
    Joke

    Where are wet hurting?

    In Bang Pa-in...

    No, not when, but WHERE.... ( Board of Directors sigh)

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Poor sod

    "The passion, perseverance, ingenuity and execution exhibited by the WD team has been extraordinary"

    Execution? They certainly aren't kidding in the far east. Is Clarkson an exec over there?

  13. DJV Silver badge
    Happy

    Next time they will need to think about building their fabs on stilts or pontoons!

  14. unitron
    Boffin

    Hope it's the factory...

    ... where they make 2TB non "advanced format" drives.

  15. Sandtitz Silver badge
    WTF?

    What next?

    Are the floods re-occurring yearly or was this once-in-a-lifetime accident?

    Is Bangkok now properly protected against flooding or would it be better for WD to build the next factory 10m higher "just in case"?

  16. wayward4now
    Linux

    Made in the US?

    For the 50 million, they could have just paid decent wages here in the states.

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