Once again, I received a call from someone hoping there is some sort of magical fix to bring a computer back to life once it has suffered a liquid incursion.
I went through the basic procedures, make sure the computer has dried out – (Calcium Chloride or Silicone Dioxide is much better than rice), clean the power terminals, reset the SMC and cross your fingers. All with about the same effect.
There is really one one reliable solution for data preservation in the face of an accident or loss and that is a viable back up. Time Machine is fantastic and the least you should be using. The lack of an external drive was this person’s lament. You should have a backup solution that can handle three (3) times the amount of data you want to preserve (and that should typically be most of whatever is on your computer and mobile devices en toto).