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I can't believe it worked!

AMCRambler

AMCRambler

Diamond Member
So we had a hard drive crash at work today. Bios wouldn't detect it, of course it wouldn't boot, wouldn't show up on the secondary channel. They were out of ideas when I remembered reading somewhere about sticking the drive in the freezer for a while and then trying it again. Mike the guy working on it had nothing else to lose so he gave it a shot. Dropped it in a zip loc bag, stuck it in there for about a half hour, and then popped it back in the machine. I'll be damned if the dumb thing didn't boot right into Windows. I had heard of the trick but never actually tried it before, but for you non-believers like myself, it looks like it actually can work. It only lasted for about 10 minutes or so, but that was long enough for us to copy the data up to the network that we needed off it. Very cool 🙂!
 
I've seen dead ones start working after being dropped onto a desk.

If either of these tricks work, have a 2nd drive ready to copy your data to it quickly - it may not work again.
 
thats pretty cool 🙂 its better than taking the HDD apart and using it as frisbees 😛
 
I had a 5400RPM 20GB EIDE Seagate drive gimme some death clicks. In frusteration I threw the drive at my wall. But... my mood affected my aim so the drive goes through the window and hit a pillar supporting my porch. I looked at the clock and saw that my dad was coming home. I was going to make up something about the window, but first I brushed off the hard drive and put it back in the computer. Instictivly, I turned the computer on, and well, the damn thing booted XP. I was so astonished, I forgot to clean the mess. So.. my dad walked in, I told him what happened, and I got grounded for a week. The drive lasted for about 2 years after that.
 
This is a sort of an interesting read, if you haven't already.

I still have my dead Quantum Fireball 13.6GB in storage. For a time I considered trying out one of the revival methods, but lost interest after I recovered all the critical files from my Ghost backup.
 
Originally posted by: loki8481
we have a couple Fireballs floating around at work. most have died by now, though.
Click to expand...

If ever there was an aptly named hard drive, the Fireball was it. I lost count how many warranty replacements we did at work when those things were going down in flames.
 
That is insane, I can't believe that works.

Does anyone have any idea why putting the drive in the freezer brings it back to life or know what is happening to it that makes it work again?
 
I guess when you put the drive in the freezer, the platters contracted and so did the heads. Now there should always be a gap between the head and the platter. Putting it in the freezer must have widened the gap between the head and the platter. THough insignificant to the naked eye, even a nanometer makes a difference in this case...........
 
its worked for me as well when working on a friends comp

for about 15 minutes... but it was long enough to copy off her "hit-list", will, resume and some photos
 
if the freezer trick works for you, but you need more time to copy your data off -

1. obtain can of compressed air
2. hold can upside down
3. spray top of hd with frozen goodness

i've used this method before to recover data from a hd
 
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