Freezing your Hard Drive to retrieve data

[ROF]

While I've done this several times in the past with quite a few success stories I was able to once again today satisfy a customer by retrieving data from their hard drive by chilling it. Let me explain.

The customer had experienced several problems recently with the PC in question. Never thinking to back up the data the customer kept using the PC until yesterday when the computer locked up. Upon re-booting the machine, the PC took forever to load windows(WinXP SP2) and when it did boot the secondary drive(the dead one) was unavailable. In fact, no disk management tools could be used to include windows explorer without a significant pattern of lockup. The customer called me last night in a frenzy. "My PC is all messed up and I really need help.", was the diagnostics I got on the phone. I told him to bring it in either last night or this morning. Sure enough 7AM this morning the door bell rings and here is this guy who looks like he'd been up all night(which I later found out he had). There was extremely important data he needed to retrieve for a meeting he had on Friday(tomorrow). My first question was if there was a backup. The all too familiarr answer was a panicked NO.

The customer had to leave but told me that the data contained was worth thousands of dollars to him(I charged him $100). I bring the PC into the shop and sure enough it exhibits all the signs of a dead drive.

I disconnect the dead drive from the IDE Bus and reboot the PC to make sure that's the only issue with this hardware. The system boots fine and disk management tools are accessible as normal. I tried connecting the drive to another PC and not even the BIOS picked it up. With the hard drive in hand I could feel the platters spinning and hear the drive attempting to read but nothing output. This drive caused this second PC to also boot much more slowly and also nearly disable all disc management tools.

Dead drive, right?

NO. Because there was no outward signs of clicking or errratic operations or even non-spinning platters I knew the problem immediately(or at least what might be the problem).

Three Step Procedure:

1) I took the hard drive and sealed it into a vacuum sealed ziplock bag. You must get all or at least most of the air out to avoid condensation on the electronics. The bag also prevents moisture or ice forming on the metal casing.

2) I placed the drive inside the freezer for 90-100 minutes. (watched the Weather Man, ok Movie BTW)

3) After the movie I pulled the drive out of the freezer and leaving the drive inside the ziplock bag(unzipping it of course) I connected it to the PC via IDE/USB cabling. The drive was recognized and I was able to pull all data off the drive and copy it to the primary drive partition. Success!

I just thought I'd share this story with anyone who might experience hard drive failure and is looking for a last resort chance of retrieving the data stored on it. The freezer trick really does work. This isn't the first time I've had to do this. I'd have to say better than 80% of the time the freezer idea works. If you should ever have a problem where a drive had died(even one that is clicking) stick it in the freezer following the above directions and without allowing it to warm up try and retrieve your precious data.

I've heard all sorts of reasonings as to why this works from chilling the circuitry to changing the geometry of the platters due to cold. I personally think it's magic.

Anyone else here literally freeze a dead drive before?

[lacywest]

I had a hard drive mess up recently ... I used Easy Recovery 6.0 and getdataback NTFS.

I've heard of this method ... the part I liked about your method was explaining about how to avoid the condensation ... the moisture seems kind of spooky.

Could cause shorts right and make things worse ??? ... RIGHT !!! ... If not done correctly and carefully.

[SLK001]

Well, it depends on what's wrong with the drive. I had one of my 80 GB drives that had "issues" with its head amplifier. Freezing the drive only provides enough of a heat dumping area to last long enough to transfer the data off the drive. Also, no matter what you do, you can't keep condensation off the drive as it is warming up, and water on the electronics can kill the drive PERMANENTLY. Also, severe thermal expansion issues could also permanently kill a frozen drive.

To get the data off my dead drive, I placed a thermal pad on the head amplifier IC (easily found by putting your hand on the circuit board while operating - it will be the part that could fry eggs), then put a heat sink on the pad. Then, a fan blasting air over this. This allowed me to get all of my data off my drive, then a security format (that got to 80% before it stopped again). The drive is now in my what-do-I-do-with-it-now drawer. I may try to get a replacement for the head amplifier, but the life-cycle of this IC may have already expired (and thus not be available). Plus, 80GB is now only "baby" storage.

[redwudz]

I used the freezing method once a few years ago with success with a seemingly dead drive. It took 3 trips to the freezer to complete the transfer.

In my case, I think the platter bearings were shot and cooling it down gave them a little more clearance and reduced their heat build-up. It was making noises.

[ROF]

You can avoid condensation by operating in an environment that isn't humid and making sure that the drive is sealed in a container that doesn't have any or very little air. I fixed a drive using the above method last year that to my knowledge is still working. For some reason(again I refer to magic) the drive sprung to life and unlike most of these drives it didn't die again after it warmed up. I tend to believe it has something to do with the geometry of the platter(metal shrinks) thus allowing the read/write head to access the drive properly.

If you put the drive in the freezer with no sealed bag or a bag that contains alot of outside air you will after a few minutes see ice crystals forming on the outer casing of the drive. If your drive is polished metal(most are) you will also see the condensation forming inside the freezer on the metal. When you touch it you can write your name in the condensation.

If you put the drive in the freezer without a container(no bag) you will be able to etch your name in the ice after you remove it.

After you remove the drive from the freezer, make sure to leave the bag around the drive. As the drive warms up you will notice the bag begins to form condensation while the drive inside remains relatively free of moisture.

There are other unconventional methods to fixing dead drives. One being to lightly tap the drive three times in succession on the power connector side. Not the connectors but the side of the drive closest to the power connector. The arm base for the read/write head typically sits forward and to the left of this. Lightly tapping the drive on the side of a desk(don't bash it) will sometimes cause the drive head arm to shift or unlock(unpark) itself and allow you to retrieve data. Another unconventional method although much more risky(it's a dead drive anyways) is to remove the drive cover(in a really really clean room) and lightly nudge the drive head arm. Just nudge it. Don't flick it, press it into the platter, or any other extreme motion. Just a slight nudge. With the cover off connect the drive and watch to see what occurs. You may actually witness the issue that's causing the problem.

[gadgetguy]

No first hand knowledge, but a former coworker has done this several times. He says the first thing to remember is you aren't trying to save the drive. You are trying to retrieve the data. He uses one of those vaccuseal contraptions that sucks the air out of the bag and seals it tight. Then he carefully cuts the plastic around the connectors and most of the time it maintains the seal allowing him to actually leave the drive in the little fridge while retrieving the data. Also note that ROF said to leave it in for only a couple hours. My friend says that if you leave it overnight it will lock the drive up and when you try to access it the drive motor will burn out and nothing else can be attempted after that.

[redwudz]

I remember reading an article on hard drives a few years ago about dust on a HD platter. Their analogy was a piece of dust the diameter of a human hair on the platter and the read head striking it would be like a car hitting a boulder at 60mph. The head skims above the platters a microscopic amount at 7200rpm. But, as you mentioned, if the drive is toast anyway, what have you got to lose? (After you try the other methods first.)

[MJA]

I also heard about this method few years ago, but I never tried it. I have a dead 5 years old laptop hard drive setting around. Nothing important on it. I’m ganna try it now

[ROF]

You can safely leave your drive for days inside the freezer unless it's a freezer that goes below -10 degrees fahrenheit. Most freezers are just below freezing and will not lock up the drive. I've done the above described method on a drive I left in the freezer over a weekend without any negative results.

If opening the drive, you'd definitely want to avoid any miniscule amount of dust in the room or at least your work area. You can check your work area for air borne dust by walking around in the area for several minutes and then with a flashlight in hand, turn the lights off so the room is in complete darkness. The beam from the flashlight will show you the amount of dust in your room. The walking around will stir it up for you. If you see alot of floating dust, the room is insufficient for to be called a clean room.

My suggestions to create a clean room atmosphere:

Vacuum the room(Mop it if no carpeting, even if it's a concrete floor), dust the room to remove all settled dust, put a fan on(preferably overhead) and allow it to circulate the air for thirty minutes. Turn the fan off and wait 30 minutes. Re-dust the room of all settled dust. Use a spray bottle filled with water and lightly coat your carpet/flooring with a fine mist. Re-Try the flashlight directions above. You should see a noticeable difference. Repeat if necessary.

[gadgetguy]

You can safely leave your drive for days inside the freezer unless...

Different people, different experience. I'd rather err on the side of caution.
(Of course, it IS a dead drive anyway, right?)

[d_unbeliever]

can i place 2 scoop of ice cream on top

[Nelson37]

Yes, this does sometimes work, thing to remember is you have nothing to lose. Back in the old MFM days we used to slam the drives onto a hard surface, with a LOT of force. Would unstick the heads. Not recommended for modern drives, but this did work once when all else, including freezing, had any effect.

Once had a customer who was running his drive with no cover at all, and had been for quite some time. He had to put his finger on the edges of the platters and manually start them spinning. I watched him do this in our shop, and it ran several hours that way, in a very unclean environment. I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it. We joked about getting him a rope with a wooden handle, like a lawn mower.

[RDS1955]

AWESOME Thread!!!!!

I've ran into problems with a 120GB Western Digital drive I want to recover data off of and the programs I'm using are only allowing me to recover mostly corrupt data..I figure the Drive is Toast anyway, So I'm gonna have to give this a try..Thanks for this Thread and all the replies!!

[TBoneit]

Yup. I've done it too, Sometimes it works sometimes not.

Of course there is the user that won't back i tup or bring it in for service while it will be easy to recover before the drive totally goes down. As loang as they can get the computer going by turning it off and on until it goes or by repeat pressing of reset or banging on it or whatever Voodoo they use until it just won't go.

And unrealistic expectations We close at 7PM customer has Dell w/250Gb Sata dead Maxtor 18 month old drive. Brings in disks from Dell, I have new WD 250Gb... It is now 6PM, customer asks will it be ready before closing?

Same customer I told Data recovery is expensive over the phone earlier in the day. I said could be 1000's, she said not $200 or so? Then later when she is in the store she says her company sends theirs out for around $1000.

I didn't say so but I'm thinking her employer should start backing up and save some money! You would think after the first one they'd implement a backup program.

Maybe I should talk but we back up the server and nothing in any of the other computers at work or home is needful of backup.

When I buy downloadable s/w I print out the key, burn a CD with the s/w and the email with the key. That's all the backup I need.

Anyway back up those digital photos. DVDs and CDs are cheap. How many times I've heard, I was just going to backup when it died!

Anyway as I said I have had freezing the drive work, not always but sometimes.

Cheers

[TBoneit]

Not to mention Raid Mirroring of critical data drive would save much recovery. Striping Wel only for temp work where speed is paramount. Striping two drives just doubled your chances for drive failure IMHO.
One of our customers uses mirroring. I'm always replacing a failed drive but Knock wood he hasn't lost anything yet. So mirroring does work. He swears by it.

[Nelson37]

I am not a fan of mirroring, for several reasons.

1. There is no opportunity to go back in time. If your accounting program corrupts your data, you have two perfect copies of corrupted data.

2. If an external force such as power surge damages your drive, you most likely have two damaged, unusable drives.

3. If the primary drive fails due to age, the secondary drive has exactly the same amount of wear an tear on it.

4. It is the source of the worst PC nightmare I ever had. Replaced failed secondary drive. Due to what turned out MUCH later to be a flaky power supply, moments after secondary replacement the original primary was disabled. Secondary became primary. Again moments later, primary came back on line. Empty secondary drive had become primary, formerly primary drive with all the data was now secondary. Mirroring process began from empty drive to full drive. Saw this from across the room, only time I ever flew without an airplane. Too late. All data lost.

Mirroring is bad.

[ROF]

I'm not a fan of mirroring the drive simply because a simple power surge can destroy both thus defeating your backup strategy in less than a second. Relying on a surge protector or UPS isn't a good idea. They do fail sometimes and even if they have insurance, no amount of money will replace your lost data.

A good backup strategy for a home user is to backup your important data to at least two different forms of removeable storage. You can use a flash drive and optical media. A zip disc and a backup tape. Just make sure it's in two different forms. Do not store these together. Give one to a relative, a friend, or as one of my collegues does she has a few sealed envelopes in her PO box containing her backups. The problem with mirroring for me is that it's easily defeated. The data is stored in the same form, in the same location, within the same machine. All it takes is one power surge, one serious flood, one catastrophic fire and in most cases you can kiss your mirrored data goodbye.

Anytime I do a backup of stuff I want to keep I give a copy of these backups to a relative for safe storage. This relative has been keeping my data safe for decades and fortunately I've never had a need to retrieve anything from this safety storage area.

Quite a few people say they perform backups but it's usually when a drive goes dead that they realize they didn't have a complete backup of that specific drives important content. That's where desperation kicks in and someone somewhere in the past came up with the idea of "icing" a drive.

It's not 100% foolproof, but if at first you don't succeed, try and try again.

[TBoneit]

I'm not saying Mirror instead of backup, I'm saying Mirror with backups. That way in a office environment that has to stay up you have a much better chance of doing so.

Mirroring won't protect against many things such a a Virus, OTOH it will keep you running if a drive dies. And that is what my one customer wants a needs.
I have replaced Chipset fans, Power supplies and a Motherboard in his machines but he stills swears by Mirroring because it has a savior for him more than once. He can keep riunning until the workload lightens he has a chance to swap in a spare computer. If a doctor or lwayer has to stop seeing clients to work on an ailing computer, big revenue loss. I'd think the same problem for a accountant during this season until after April 15th.

[offline]

I used to freeze the winchester full hight drives back in the old days - often worked. Had a plastic aquarium tank for a mini clean room too

Best data recovery job I ever did was a dropped portable 486. The drive casing even had a dint in it. I pulled out the spindle and dual platter, replaced the whole lot into a new drive case + new heads, (a tricky job) but kept the PCB. Ran a slow start power up (ramping the voltage) and Presto! It really worked. No clean room either

While dust and moisture is a problem, I ran a fully exposed RLL HDD for 3 months on a BBS once.