Cris:
I have put drives in a freezer and after a couple days some would work and some would not, however, those that did work again --failed a few weeks or days later.

This freeze "fix" is only used in an attempt to recover a drive in order to transfer the data to a good harddrive. The same holds true with tapping, dropping or whatever.

The problem with such failed drives is the heads get clogged up or frozen to the platter and bearings in the motor can dry out due to heat or also get get clogged up.

If you value your data, don't take chances on intermitten drives. However they are fun to take apart if your a "tinkerer".

mike michel

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 --- On Mon 11/10,  cris Ryan wrote:
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] PCBUILD Digest -

Just another thought Ian, have you tried placing the HDD in a ziplock bag, then into the freezer for awhile? Not having any direct experience this way, I have read several articles that referred to this method. One solution mentioned PCWorld also mentioned removing the outer casing and tapping gently on the HDD while it is powered (definitely not for the faint hearted or electrical mystified!)
Chris Ryan
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Original answer from Ian to mike

Yeah, I tried all the usual stuff Mike - I just wondered if anyone could come up with some recovery system I wasn't aware of. Turned out the drive was 'puckarooed' (in NZ parlance) - dead, unserviceable, stuffed etc.

I installed it on a system as the sole drive with a fresh ribbon cable, and it spun up ok, but the minute it started, it clunked and clattered like an old cement mixer, so I'd guess it's definitely history now. Thanks again to all who responded

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