Woot! Putting dead HD's in the freezer actually works!

[MarkFahey]

Originally posted by: Mist
The way I figure it worked was because by freezing it, I compressed everything, cold makes things shrink, right?

SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!!!

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

All I have to say is "Thats crazy."

 

[kursplat]

Test it, if you're in a bad mood, your PC won't behave as it normally does, if you're in a good mood, your PC will do everything and more, than you would expect it to do.

he he..... so the next cool case mod will be a mood mod ?. just like mood rings. great for lan parties , you can tell from your case if you hot , cold or hungry from the color.

 

[RyanM]

Just threw mine in the freezer. Crossing my fingers that when I hook this thing up in the morning, I can grab some stuff off it.

Anybody know if Western Dig has a trade-in, trade-up policy for RMAs?

I still have warranty left on the drive, and I was just daydreaming that perhaps I could plunk down an extra 50 bucks for a Raptor. ;-)

 

[optimistic]

Wow that is very intersting. But I don't I'll ever get a chance to test this, because I mirror my important stuff to my other hdd. Well if they both fail, at the same time, maybe THEN I can try this!

 

[kursplat]

Anybody know if Western Dig has a trade-in, trade-up policy for RMAs?

they do , it sucks (from the consumers point of view) RMA's are great , just the $$ off for your old one that sucks.
good luck

 

[crisscross]

WOW! :Q

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Another thing that kills drives:
gimpy power splitter cables.

I had one almost take out two SCSI HDs, one of the drives ended up with bad sectors as I was woke up in the middle of the night with the sound of a pair of drives stopping and starting once every 10 seconds. Generally not a good thing. Especially when they're in a RAID array.

 

I have two drives I will put in the freezer now and try! Thanks for the post!

 

[glugglug]

the noise you heard is the heads not getting out of the parked position from too much friction.

Cold contracts the metal, moving it slightly to a point that got less friction.

 

[WarSong]

wow i have never heard of this freezer trick. very cool guys, i will have to remember this next time i run into a problem like this.

 

My two hard drives just entered phase one of the process, "the cool down" .

 

[SickBeast]

Holy frozen harddrives Batman!! Quick, to the maxtormobile!!!

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Holy frozen harddrives Batman!! Quick, to the maxtormobile!!!

LOL!

 

[RyanM]

Holy f*cking sh!t. I love love love love you guys.

Seriously.

I was able to get 100% of my scanned artwork and graphics design files, 100% of my music, 100% of my personal documents, 100% of my miscellany, but 0% of my porn. The drive crapped out before I could get the good stuff. I'm sticking it back in the freezer tonite to see if I can get the rest.

Thanks again. Hank bless Anandtech.

 

[optimistic]

That's good to hear!

 

[HiggaJigga]

yeah..... that is about the coolest damn thing i've ever seen. bacilius is the man for bringing that to our attention.

 

[WarSong]

Just to clarify, when does this work?

a.) When the drive won't spin up at all?
b.) When it will spin up but is not recognised by the bios?
c.) When it will spin up, is recognised by the bios, but has damaged sectors?
d.) ?

 

[RyanM]

Well, my situation was a post-"click of death" thing. The bios would recognize the drive, but upon entering Windows, attempts to access it failed.

 

How long should it be in the freezer for? Im getting impatient thinking of all the pr0n and mp3s i had (and lost) last year!

 

[eplebnista]

 

[RyanM]

I left it overnight, but I suppose once the drive is so cold that it's uncomfortable to hold, you're golden.

 

Didn't work for me . I have the frostbite on my hands and no pr0n .

 

[NumbaJuan]

Originally posted by: Phocas
Didn't work for me . I have the frostbite on my hands and no pr0n .

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Phocas
How long should it be in the freezer for? Im getting impatient thinking of all the pr0n and mp3s i had (and lost) last year!

I just put mine in an anti-static bag and put in the freezer for an hour or two.