Hard Drive Crashed...literally

[Splatterson]

As a last ditch effort to get data off a drive, we put it in a ziploc bag and then froze it in the freezer for 24 hours. We got 1 boot-up and were able to get our most important data off before it died for good.

[ATGreat]

There are a bunch of companies that do it, actually. If it's worth it depends upon how much you value your data.

I stand most humbly corrected.

Still, grinding noise does mean sending it to a professional to extract the data.

[Pike]

As a last ditch effort to get data off a drive, we put it in a ziploc bag and then froze it in the freezer for 24 hours. We got 1 boot-up and were able to get our most important data off before it died for good.

Holy crap, that actually works?

[Mr. Lister, Sir]

As a last ditch effort to get data off a drive, we put it in a ziploc bag and then froze it in the freezer for 24 hours. We got 1 boot-up and were able to get our most important data off before it died for good.

the wonders of the freezer never ceases to amaze me.

[Glimfeather]

As a last ditch effort to get data off a drive, we put it in a ziploc bag and then froze it in the freezer for 24 hours. We got 1 boot-up and were able to get our most important data off before it died for good.

Wow, that's truly incredible. Thanks, Splatterson. I'll keep that nugget tucked away if all else fails. How exactly does that work? What does freezing do?

[Uchiha Daisuke]

Have you tried Spinrite. If any program will recover the data it will. You will need to connect the HD directly to your Intel-based PC. It is $89, you could always get it by other means to try and if it works buy it. It scans every sector on the HD and will rewrite bad sectors to good parts of the drive. Hopefully the platters aren't cracked.

Freezing should be the very last resort. I remember Steve Gibson (creator of Spinrite) talking about it on Security Now! but I can't remember what he said the freezing did. I do remember that he said it was a last resort and is damaging to the HD ultimately.

Good luck!

[THX1966]

Freezing will cause all the metal inside to contract a little bit. sometimes enough to allow the drive to move freely again. However, since hard drives spin so fast and gain heat so fast you only have a couple of minutes tops to retreive your data. and since the drive is expanding so fast it is usually fatal to the already damaged drive.

[Splatterson]

Holy crap, that actually works?

It did for us that one time!

the wonders of the freezer never ceases to amaze me.

Freaky, isn't it?

Wow, that's truly incredible. Thanks, Splatterson. I'll keep that nugget tucked away if all else fails. How exactly does that work? What does freezing do?

Supposedly it will make the platters and stuff contract and un-stick themselves. Don't know if it will work for you or not but you're only only a ziplock bag and some time!

Freezing will cause all the metal inside to contract a little bit. sometimes enough to allow the drive to move freely again. However, since hard drives spin so fast and gain heat so fast you only have a couple of minutes tops to retrieve your data. and since the drive is expanding so fast it is usually fatal to the already damaged drive.

Yea - what he said.