Freezing HDD to recover data

[DJRWolf]

I have a drive with the "click of death" and want to know about any tips/tricks to freezing the drive to help get data off of it.

So far I have only tried connecting it with one of those SATA to USB adapters and Hirens 15.2 but will also try directly connecting to on board SATA first.

One thing some friends and I have though of is sealing the drive in a 1-gallon freezer bag with a desiccant (don't have any of those silicone gel packs around so going to use rice) and the drive it's self in an anti-static bag, seal it up tight with duct tape, and then put it in the freezer. The aim of that is trying to keep moisture away to prevent it from getting condensation. Also looking into if we can keep it in the freezer when we are working on it.

 

[RealBeast]

I've seen many reports of it working for a brief time, but I've not had any luck in a number of tries. Hopefully, your attempt will have greater success.

 

[DJRWolf]

From what I have been told the reason it works is because it makes some of the moving parts contract and gets them moving right again. As the drive warms up you get condensation that shorts it out (hence using a desiccant). Anything you can warn me to avoid that you have learned about in your attempts?

 

[RealBeast]

The biggest is keeping it dry when freezing. The humidity in the air will turn to ice, then later water -- so the desiccant (as you plan to use) is important.