Using the "freezer trick"

triangleman42 · 2005-04-05T17:10:58Z

First I'll introduce myself. I do not work for a law enforcement agency or data recovery firm, but instead work as a hardware tech for a small college. I've searched the web pretty extensively for the information that I have only found in computer forensic sites/forums. So even though my reasons are different, I still sometimes find myself in the same situation as many of you: I've got a busted drive and I need the data. I apologize if my question here is somewhat off topic since I'm trying to recover data while spending less than $50 and less than a few hours as well as the fact that I don't need to preserve the integrity of the drive for evidence purposes and often I am trying to recover data from a drive that if data can't be recovered for free then it will just go in the trash.Thanks to all of you participating here. I only wish I could find a hardware tech type site that provided this type of resource.Now to the freezer trick. I read in a nother thread here someone reporting a drive that didn't work with the freezer method but he was able to put the drive on the dashboard of his car to heat it up a bit, then was able to mount the drive and recover the data. That thread also had someone saying that either freezing or heating a drive was a terrible idea and would more often than not destroy the drive. Well, I've used the freezer method many times and I've got just about a 40% success rate. These are drives belonging to either poor college students or the college itself. On the rare occasion that the data is worth the cost of recovery then we send the drive to the professionals. Usually the data is not worth the cost but it is worth 5 minutes of my time to try what tricks have worked in the past. Once it is to the point where we are going to just throw the drive away I can't help but start trying unconventional methods. If the heads are stuck and the freezer trick doesn't work then sometimes I'll try what we like to call, "percussive maintenance" where we simply drop the drive from about an inch onto a static mat. Then from progressively higher points until either the drive mounts or it busts into many little pieces. This method only works about 10% of the time but the fact remains that I've had students, almost in tears, come to me with a crashed drive and no money and I've been able to give them their data. That's what I call job satisfaction.If the freezer trick should not be used, yet I use it and it works, how could I use it more effectively? How sudden and steep a change in temperature is too sudden or too steep? Does anyone have a temperature range that seems to work well? I've left a drive in for a few hours and gotten it to mount immediately. I've also left a drive in overnight and I ended up having to leave it out for a half hour to warm up a bit before it would then mount. Has anyone else been sucessful at heating a drive and recovering data?Again, I apologize if my posting this type of question/comment is not welcome at this site.-Josh

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Anonymous

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27/09/2007 9:56 pm

I have had successful results with the freezer trick.

Except it was only for a series of MFM drives.

The idea was that the material used for securing the spindle, after a time wear out and become like putty.

Heating and freezing it allowed the drive to loosen the spindle.

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cberkop

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28/09/2007 2:51 am

This may be another one of the "wives tales" about drive recovery, but I have seen it work a couple of times. Oh this is one of those last ditch attempts just before I gut the drive and dispose of the parts.

Jump Start the drive.

Disconnect the power from the Drive in Question
Start the pc up and just before POST begins plug power into the drive.
If that does not work, try adding the power just before the POST completes.

I have successfully done this to recover data from a drive 3 or 4 times and once just so a user could have the PC running for a few more days.

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