This is an old “Geek” trick used to get data off a drive “one last time” before you give up. Server Zone does a most excellent job of outline the proper procedures for this data recovery hail mary.
One option is to call a hard drive recovery company. If your data is worth a lot of money to you, you can pay a forensic computer company to get the data off your hard drive. Before you write a check though, try a little Do-It-Yourself first. – Read More
6 Comments at "Stick Your Broken Hard Drive in the Freezer"
My go-to tool for saving data from drives that seem lost: Data Rescue (3).
That is some hard-core software! For a mere $100, you can use this tool to do simple to advanced recovery on a damaged drive. I’ve recovered files from drives with damaged directories, damaged parts, and even wiped CF Cards! Experts have said they can’t get data off of drives, but this tool, which isn’t available for commercial license, gets the job done. Short of spending $1000s to have a clean-lab do the job, this is best at-home tool I’ve ever had.
Give it a look:
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
Dan,
The software you are referring to is well done, however it is useless in a situation where your hard drive is not able to get past boot. The freezer trick above is a very old trick. I remember doing this to a drive back in 95. I read about it on a BBS. My drive was making a loud clicking noise and the bios errored out when trying to recognize it. I put it in the freezer over night and tried in the morning. BAM it worked. All my data was still on the drive but I had to work quick. The drive would run for about 15-30 minutes before dying again. So i spent the next 5 days freezing then copying
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Actually, i am currently recovering a friend’s HD that won’t mount (a.k.a. won’t get past ‘boot’). Many of the files are “truncated,” so I’m having to use a more advanced set of options and deeper scan to recover most of the files. No, it won’t fix a drive that’s been shot with a .50 cal, but it’ll even spin the drive heads backwards so you can do a quick clone before your window of operation closes.
And as for me I’m using Disk Drill (http://www.cleverfiles.com/) for data recovery. It is in beta now but seems to be very promising! Waiting for its release – I hope there will be some extra options:)
When my hard drive got corrupted & I was not able to have access to those files, I used the mac data recovery software to recover data on Mac and my issues concerning data loss is now solved. This is not only the quick & easy method, but is most advanced of all as well.
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