Hard Drive in Freezer

[D-Dawg]

I've heard from someone that, putting dead hard drives in freezer might
ressurect it. Is this true? or am I gulible?

 

[Testy]

Sometimes it works. Put a bottle of vodka in at the same time and make a
perfect martini.

Testy

 

[R. McCarty]

I've heard this one before and not sure if you can lend any credence
to it. Drives do generate a good amount of heat, so "Chilling" the
platters might cause some compression or expand the distance from
the heads to the magnetic surface. A drive assembly is sealed, so I
suppose condensation wouldn't be an issue.
Maybe the "Urban Legend" folks could take on some of these PC
type of stories and see what's what.

 

[Tim Slattery]

I've heard from someone that, putting dead hard drives in freezer might
ressurect it. Is this true? or am I gulible?

I've heard it too. I'd guess it works in some percentage of cases.

 

[D-Dawg]

I've heard this one before and not sure if you can lend any credence
to it. Drives do generate a good amount of heat, so "Chilling" the
platters might cause some compression or expand the distance from
the heads to the magnetic surface. A drive assembly is sealed, so I
suppose condensation wouldn't be an issue.
Maybe the "Urban Legend" folks could take on some of these PC
type of stories and see what's what.

i've got two choices atm. Do I send it back to seagate for free replacement
and lose all my data? or do i take the chance of freezing the hdd and
recover my data, but lose my warranty? Tough decision.

 

[Haggis]

I've heard it too. I'd guess it works in some percentage of cases.

geared towards older drives that tended to "sieze" ....the trip to the
freezer would sometime cause the disc to shrink and free it to spin again...

also there were a certain number of people back in they day that recommended
"whacking" the HD on a hard surface to free the platters...


not that i would suggest anyone do it :>

 

[D-Dawg]

Sometimes it works. Put a bottle of vodka in at the same time and make a
perfect martini.

how often is 'sometimes'? 1 in 2?

martini sounds good. bartenders give me looks when i ask for 2 olives.......

 

[Mike]

-----Original Message-----
I've heard this one before and not sure if you can lend any credence
to it. Drives do generate a good amount of heat, so "Chilling" the
platters might cause some compression or expand the distance from
the heads to the magnetic surface. A drive assembly is sealed, so I
suppose condensation wouldn't be an issue.
Maybe the "Urban Legend" folks could take on some of these PC
type of stories and see what's what.




.
Someone once told me they had a failed hard drive and

had heard about the "freezer fix". He tried it and said
he was able to get some of his info off of the hard drive
but as soon as it heated back up it quit again. He tried
the freezer trick several times and was able to get some
of his critical info removed but not all. It did not fix
the drive but gave him a few minutes of run time to
remove data.

 

[Margaret Wilson]

How will the manufacturer ever know you "froze" the hard drive? I'd try it
and then return the drive if you can't recover your data.

Regards,

Margaret

 

[Bob I]

Actually you laid them out on a flat surface, "whacked" them on the
corner so they would rotate the platter as you applied power, then as
soon as they got up to speed start copying off the data, cause it might
not work one more time.

 

[Guest]

I would have to try the freezer trick just to see if it works. there is also
the martini to consider. Besides, if it doesn't work, how would seagate know
you froze it? just put it in a freezer bag to keep out moisture.

 

[D-Dawg]

I would have to try the freezer trick just to see if it works. there is
also
the martini to consider. Besides, if it doesn't work, how would seagate
know
you froze it? just put it in a freezer bag to keep out moisture.

hmm. good point. i'll give it a go sometime this week. i'll post the result.

 

[Unknown]

You're very, very gullible.

Sometimes it works. Put a bottle of vodka in at the same time and make a
perfect martini.

Testy

 

[Testy]

Just after 4 or 5 martinis.

Testy

You're very, very gullible.

 

[Gordon]

Actually you laid them out on a flat surface, "whacked" them on the
corner so they would rotate the platter as you applied power, then as
soon as they got up to speed start copying off the data, cause it might
not work one more time.

I've done this on several occasions, and it works more times than
it fails. I slip a plastic electrostatic protection bag on the
drive, then hold the drive between my thumb and forefinger in my
left hand, such tha it is relatively free to rotate about an axis
perpendicular to the plane of the drive. Then, I rap it
vigorously with my right knuckle, twice, once to produce a
rotation in one direction, then the second time to produce a
rotation in the opposite direction. This approach works very well
for freeing up a disc axle that has stuck from being in storage
for some time.

Caution: do this over something that can catch the drive if you
drop it. I usually work very close to a carpted floor so the drop
won't be more than a few inches if I knock it completely out of
my hand. You have to rap it pretty vigorously, sometimes.

 

[Don Taylor]

I've heard from someone that, putting dead hard drives in freezer might
ressurect it. Is this true? or am I gulible?

Decades ago, back when 20 and 40 MEGAbyte (that's 0.001 gigabytes
for you kids) full height 5" Micropolis drives were $400 each there
was a known problem with those where the motor controller wouldn't
synchronize and the drive speed would ramp up and down and up and
down, you could hear this trying to lock onto the correct speed.

Sticking those in the freezer for just the right amount of time,
and nobody was quite sure what the right amount was, would somehow
sometimes get the drive to lock onto the correct speed.

Word was that if you ever got the drive to lock on then you just
never powered that drive down again.

But I haven't heard anybody doing that in a very very long time.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I've heard this one before and not sure if you can lend any credence
to it. Drives do generate a good amount of heat, so "Chilling" the
platters might cause some compression or expand the distance from
the heads to the magnetic surface. A drive assembly is sealed, so I
suppose condensation wouldn't be an issue.

I would see it as something to try as a last resort, to get it working
well enough to pull valuable data off, but no more. It *might* work; no
harm in trying if the drive is otherwise quite dead. But I would not
hope too hard.