One friend says it will destroy the drive. Another says he uses that trick all the time. What are the facts? I've heard enough theories.
2007-07-13 09:04:40 · 8 answers · asked by Undying 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
it wont destroy the drive and im not honestly sure if it would help out at all or not i mean it wont stay cold for long once its on. I would normaly say just put the drive on another computer so its not trying to boot and try to recover data that way.
2007-07-13 09:08:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It really depends.
Putting it into a freezer, then taking it out in a humid environment will surely shorten the life of the drive.
But then, you are trying to resurrect a failed drive anyhow, so what is the danger there?
There are two different ways that freezing a hard drive could make a failed drive function for a short period of time.
The interior drive mechanics have a lot of metal components, if the drive has seized, there is a chance that freezing it will shrink those metal components enough to allow the drive to spin up again.
Though, this is generally not the case. Because when a drive seizes, it is often due to the head breaking off the actuator and scraping against the platter enough to stop it from spinning. In that case, it will not be able to read the data anyhow.
Usually, what happens is the logic board fails, and it is sometimes due to a malfunction that causes it to overheat. Freezing it keeps it cooler longer, allowing it to work for a short period of time. But after a while it will heat up again.
I have personally used cooling to retrieve data from a failed drive. But I used a can of compressed air, holding it upside down and spraying the liquid directly onto the logic board every minute or so. The rapid evaporation of the liquid cools it down just like putting it into the freezer.
Keep in mind that the liquid used in canned air is often very flammable, so I do not recommend doing it my way.
So while it is not a guaranteed fix, it does work on occasion and is a useful tool if you really need it.
2007-07-13 09:25:29 · answer #2 · answered by Bjorn 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It would definitely depend on the problem. If the drive is overheated then cooling it off will help, but a freezer may be overkill for that. If its something like corrupted data, a virus, or bad sectors, your only other option would be trying it as a slave drive so the computer doesnt have to access important files and then recover the files then. All in all, I dont think a freezer helps unless the drive has been overheated.
2007-07-13 09:24:17 · answer #3 · answered by stanli121 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do data recovery (amongst other things), and I have NEVER put a drive in the freezer. This is an urban legend that will only make a bad situation worse.
The theory behind chilling a drive is that if a component (on the on-board controller) is failing due to heat related issues, you may be able to get it to work temporarily by chilling it.
Drives fail due to one of 2 reasons...
Either the bubble (sealed chamber w/ platters & heads) or the onboard controller is failing.
If the source of the problem is the on-board controller, you can replace the onboard controller with an IDENTICAL models "known-good" unit (same board rev, same firmware rev - if you can find one), and you will now be able to get your data off the drive.
Never open the bubble - leave that to the data-recovery shops w/ clean-rooms and replacement parts.
Best of success
2007-07-13 12:22:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
NO-will damage it. The internal mechanisms of the drive consist of platters that spin and an arm that glides over them to read and write data.
He probably got that theory because some people put laptop batteries in the freezer and it **supposedly** resets them and extends their life although I never tried it.
2007-07-13 19:55:17 · answer #5 · answered by cgflann 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It depend's what's wrong with the HDD. I can't see it doing any harm.
If the motor has failed, then it won't do anything... the motor's still dead. Ditto if the disk is scratched/dirty/broken.
If it's full of bad sectors.... I guess theres a chance.... but I wouldn't count on it personally...
2007-07-13 09:17:32 · answer #6 · answered by patabugen 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is more of a "sometimes" thing. I've tried it on two 40Gb HDDs, it did not work. Perhaps I was not lucky as the others.
2007-07-13 13:55:07 · answer #7 · answered by Karz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In a few rare instances yes. Consistently every time? NO.
Will it make things worse, not likely.
2007-07-13 09:53:44 · answer #8 · answered by Jag 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋