Worth A Try

Simson Garfinkel blogs about getting hard disk drives working by putting them in your kitchen freezer.

I've worked this trick since the mid-1990s. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't; but the price is right.

I always place the drive in a "zip-lock" bag — get as much air out as possible. Any moister in the air will freeze, of course.

Hard drives are designed to passively move heat. I have always felt that an hour or two was long enough. Then, I try mounting the drive while it is still freezer cold, but I also try as (and after) it has warmed back to room temperatures.

When a hard drive is obsolete or beyond repair they are always good for a few rare-earth magnets!

Something Techies Should Know By Now

Prelude: Client hoses his operation system because he is an aggressive power-user. Techs at BestBuy and CompUSA declare that his hard drive is failing. Client buys new computer. A third (part-time?) tech recovers client data to a CD-R.

Start working the problem:

1. CD-R disc is discovered not have important files, like outlook.pst.
   
2. The hard drive was placed in a bubble wrap envelope, with no anti-static properties.
   
3. The SATA connector is partially broken; someone used hot-glue to hold their connector cable.
   
4. Hardware-wise the hard drive works fine.
   
5. The file system could be in better shape: many zero-size files with names like, "X~@", but scandisk returns no errors.
   
6. Cannot access some folders. Hmm . . .
   
7. The operating system is — can you guess? — Windows XP Professional!
   
8. Unlock the folders. The procedure is nicely documented at MSKB 810881.
   
9. Recover 9.5 Gigabytes of personal data, including a 0.5 GB outlook.pst file.