For the hard drive click, freezing does the trick

August 22, 2007 in technology with 2 Comments

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Came home last night to find my external hard drive unresponsive. It was making the dreaded clicking sound.

I used it primarily for backups, but there were still a few important files on it — archived Media Center videos, MP3s and some pictures.

I had read about people freezing their hard drives as a way to restore them temporarily.  I decided it give it a try.

I stuck it in a ZipLoc freezer bag and placed it on top of the Minnesota corn in the Cool-Whip container in my deep freeze.

After about an hour, I took it out and hooked it up. No change.  I stuck it back in the bag and put it back in the freezer.

So I get it out this morning and hook it up. Click. Click. Click. Whirrrrr. Click. Click. Sigh.

Then surprisingly, I heard this.

Boom, it was back. I frantically copied off about 3 GB of data. Not a hitch. Couldn’t believe it.

About wvpv: what others do with talent, I do with obstinate fixation

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  1. urgent! is my drive failing? - The Church Media Community - January 29, 2008

    [...] the data off of it — after it started making sounds like what you’re describing. I wrote about it here. wvpv “what others do with talent, I do with obstinate fixation” Recent Blog: Spriglet #10 – [...]
  2. Hard Drive "Click of Death"...Can Data be Recovered? - The Church Media Community - February 20, 2009

    [...] actually recovered 3GB of data from a click-dead hard drive after freezing it. I wrote about it here. There’s also another CMN thread about that [...]

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