"Take that drive out, put it in a zip lock bag..."
Uh oh, bad idea right there! Sliding along plastic is a great way to create ESD and pop static sensitive parts. They're not shipped in antistat bags for nothing, that's why I store my removable SATA drive I use for backup in the one it was shipped in and the same goes for my spare cards too. If you want it to work when you need it don't jostle the electrons.