At normal room temperatures, storing and powering up hard drives is pretty straightforward. But when drives or PCs are trucked in during cold weather or stored in cold areas, you must allow them to warm up before you start the drives spinning. If you don't allow enough time, water can condense inside the drive and could destroy the delicate clearance between the read/write head and the spinning disk.

The solution is to allow plenty of time between receiving the drive or PC and booting it up for the first time. To allow for gradual warming, CyberResearch recommends that you follow the guidelines in the table below. When you receive the drive or PC, leave it where it will be used or tested. Then wait for at least the time shown in the table before unpacking and starting it.

Outside or Storage Temperature	Hours Required Before Unpacking and Testing
+40°F (+4.44°C)	13 hours
+30°F (-1.11°C)	15 hours
+20°F (-6.67°C)	16 hours
+10°F (-12.22°C)	17 hours
0°F (-17.78°C)	18 hours
-10°F (-23.33°C)	20 hours
-20°F (-28.89°C)	22 hours
-30°F (-34.44°C)	27 hours