Hard Drive Freezer trick

[Terranboy]

What are the specifics of this trick?

 

[Amorphus]

whats your email, I have a PDF that will explain it very well to you. PM me.

btw, its entitled "200 ways to revive a dead hard drive", so theres some more info in there, too.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You can also search, it's been discussed here fairly often.

Note that someone here fried a second hard drive trying a recovery when they placed the frozen drive above it in their drive cage. Apparently a little moisture dripped down and zap!

 

[awal]

hmm, didnt even know there was such a trick...

 

[Hanzou]

my old fujitsu drive failed but was able to get almost all of the data off it by putting it in the freezer and then setting it to slave.

 

[nick1985]

i have an old 40 gig that is dead as a doornail. it wont even spin up. is it possible that i can still get info off of this drive?

 

[awal]

how does freezing a harddrive allow you to recover data off of it? I dont see any relation.

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: adrianwalters
how does freezing a harddrive allow you to recover data off of it? I dont see any relation.

Sometimes a hd that won't spin up will after you freeze it, thus allowing you to get the data off it.

 

[Amorphus]

found it

couldn't find it online before for some reason

200 ways to recover a dead hard drive. a bit redundant, but useful. theres a bunch of theories in there as to why this works.

 

[wacki]

Originally posted by: nick1985
i have an old 40 gig that is dead as a doornail. it wont even spin up. is it possible that i can still get info off of this drive?

Yes, but not with the freezer trick. You have to send it to a specialist or if your a risk taker, transfer the platers to a working hard drive of the same type. I've never done it before, but amazingly enough, I have seen it done. The guy also liked to add windows and led lights to his hard drive. I would be amazed if I could actually do what he does just once, without blowing a small fortune on harddrives.


As for the freezer trick:
I use glad bags and a bucket of Ice water. That way you don't have to wait overnight.

adrianwalters:
Metal bends and shrinks with heat. For some reason freezing hard drives makes everything line up perfectly when it doesn't at room temperature. Also, metals exhibit different magnetic properites at different temperatures. I'm sure there are other reasons as well. All I know is that it works! But only temporarily.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
You can also search, it's been discussed here fairly often.

Note that someone here fried a second hard drive trying a recovery when they placed the frozen drive above it in their drive cage. Apparently a little moisture dripped down and zap!

Uhh, yeah, that was me. I no likey freezer trick. It almost cost me another HD. :| I would NEVER recommend this "trick" to anyone. But if you want to try it, knock yourself out.

p.s. The frozen drive was not mounted above the other drive. It was actually sitting outside the case (door open). The problem was, it was on the same power chain as the main drive. I think the condensation inside the power connector on the frozen drive might have shorted the drive connected to it. Not good.

 

[wacki]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
You can also search, it's been discussed here fairly often.

Note that someone here fried a second hard drive trying a recovery when they placed the frozen drive above it in their drive cage. Apparently a little moisture dripped down and zap!

Uhh, yeah, that was me. I no likey freezer trick. It almost cost me another HD. :| I would NEVER recommend this "trick" to anyone. But if you want to try it, knock yourself out.

p.s. The frozen drive was not mounted above the other drive. It was actually sitting outside the case (door open). The problem was, it was on the same power chain as the main drive. I think the condensation inside the power connector on the frozen drive might have shorted the drive connected to it. Not good.

A little grease will stop that.