On 30 Apr 2010 23:57:32 GMT, Arno wrote:

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Sergey Kubushyn wrote:
In sci.electronics.repair Sergey Kubushyn wrote:

Just took a brand spanking new WD5000AAKS drive out of sealed bag with
silica gel and all that stuff. The PCB is all _SILVER_ plated, no gold. And
that silver is almost totally black right out of the bag.

Not good. Silver really is unsuitable for modern, low voltage,
electronics. The last WD disk I bought (a WD5000AADS, 500GB
Caviar Green) had mixed gold and silver plating and the
silver plating was completely fine, on both sides of the
PCB.

I just removed the PCB from a WD200EB-75CSF0 20GB drive. Tin plating
on both the PCB contacts and the mating pin array going into the HDA
assembly. No gold or silver.

However, there's one extra item that hasn't entered the discussion.
There was a sheet of foam something between the PCB and the HDA. In
this case, it was quite clean and dry, but it wouldn't take much for
most any liquid to get absorbed by the foam and rot out the board.
There was a cut-out hole around the connector area, so there was no
common points of contact, but it was close enough that any volatiles
would certainly enter the connector area.

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