I have a possibly-water-damaged computer (motherboard + cpu + ram (not ecc)) that has seemed to run fine as a server for a while (2+ years). My concern is that there might be something wrong with it, but I have not encountered any issues so far.
How good is TrueNAS Scale at handling hardware issues outside of hard drives if they arise? Is this enough of a potential problem that I shouldn’t use this it for my homelab? It has been running reliably for a while, but I don’t know if I want to risk the integrity of all of my data on it.
I would most likely run regular encrypted backups to the cloud, but since I’d have to cycle out old backups, I likely wouldn’t know if a file is corrupted until too late.
For a homelab to mess around with with no care if things break? 100% fine.
To store data you actually care about? I’d argue it depends. If budget is short & time is plentiful I’d personally take apart the motherboard, strip the heat sinks & visually inspect to the best of my ability to confirm no corrosion from water damage. Same with every other part (except for PSU unless you’re really sure of what you’re doing - even then maybe it is worth just buying a new PSU if we’re talking water damage). If all looks good I’d re-assemble & stress test the snot out of it. If everything is stable after a week of testing, then I’d personally trust it.
If you got enough money however to buy some used enterprise gear that has ecc, an ipmi, etc & it also passes stress tests? Even better. Even if it works just as good, at least you’ll have some peace of mind.
First of all, and there is debate about this, but you should have ECC RAM, so regardless of water damage, your data could be in question.
I would not trust hardware that had water damage. Water contains containates unless it was distilled and deionized.
The power supply has high voltage going into it, and it is very possible for a fire to break out. That power supply puts out 12vdc at a high current rating. Imagine a short on the motherboard, another possiblr fire. Don’t think it is possible? How hot does a CPU get without a heatsink?
If your data is important then replace the hardware with new proper server hardware.
If this is just a home video storage device, you can risk it but realize it could be a fire hazard.
But you do have 2 years since the water damage so I suspect you are safe.
