So does putting your hard drive in the freezer actually work if you want to recover data. Well what happened is in 2010 I bought computer parts, put them together [as I do with all my machines] and off it went. AMD Phenom x4 955 with 4GB or Ram and a 1.5TB Seagate 7200.12 Model#9JU138-302. Now usually, I know a bad hard drive when I can hear one, but this computer wasn’t for me. January 2011, Hard Drive is dead. I looked up the warranty information, and the hard drive can easily be returned, but the data recovery was not part of the warranty. With the data still on the hard drive I was looking for answers.

I found multiple blogs ranting about possible data recovery by putting your hard drive into your freezer? At first I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to take that approach. But I did. After all I still had a perfectly non-working hard drive that was under warranty. What I found (most commonly) was this: If you’ve ever had a hard drive that make a clicking noise, and it simply wouldn’t boot, you know this is a bad sign (*obviously). However there’s some hope; in most cases you can still retrieve your files. Just follow these steps:

#1. First thing you want to do is Remove the hard drive from the computer (*obvious to me since I read you the Model#)

#2. Remove the hard drive, let it cool down, and put it into a sealed plastic bag to avoid condensation (*I used a static bag just in case, and ziplock as my non-condensation making bag)

#3. Put the hard-drive in a freezer

#4. Keep the Hard drive in a freezer overnight (*Best guess 12 hours or so)

#5. Pull the drive out of the freezer and and hook it up quickly.

Does putting your hard drive into the freezer to recover data work? I’ve read that I will have approx 20 minutes to plug the hard drive into my computer and take my files from it. I’m not exactly sure how this works, but I’m guessing it something similar to that YouTube video about magnets and liquid nitrogen. What I’m worried about is the step Step #2 and a crazy amount of condensation. Here’s a picture:

does putting your hard drive in the freezer actually work?

This will probably potentially ruin my hard drive, and void the warranty, but its worth a try? Data is the most important file on there. Rather than spend a few hundred (*$900 USD on data recovery), a Ziplock bag, static bag and a freezer would be ok too. In my case, my hard drive is actually clicking. It has a physical clicking noise, and I’m pretty sure it has to do with the spindle touching the disc (sector); the freezer idea can theoretically work because when in very cold temperature something weird happens with magnets and metal. Other bloggers have suggested that it could do with the heads retracting because of the cold temperature. I’m not so sure about this. I’m kind of hoping trial and error right now. I will update this post and make the missing link to the video on my Youtube Channel for all to see (*nervous).