Putting the hard drive in the freezer is a very BAD idea. If you want to get it going, instead maybe try Freeze Spray. Basically it is freon in a can. Using Dusting Spray, is the same thing, just turn it upside down. Sprey the PCB until it turns white, don't OVER DO it. But let it dry. It can form water vapor, and that won't help. Freezing it in a freezer is a very BAD idea, as the condensation when it warms back up, is going to destroy the platters/heads, and cause total failure. I tried the link above about what chip needs to be swapped. It is a dead link. You will need a board from an identical (including probably same dates as close as possible. I am not sure if WD would even supply you a replacement board. Finding a used drive, is probably the only hope, and then changing the chip, involves use of SMD rework station, and such. Depending on which chip, if it is a small SOIC like 8 pin flash chip, then you have a chance to get it to swap out to the replacement board. I have a WD2000JS that is the same thing. It is funny because I had been using the drive for over 2 years, I simply removed it from service, and replaced it with a 750GB drive, but I restored it back using ACRONIS from an Image, so I did not lose anything. Sadly the drive would be useful but it won;t spin up, just 3 clicks. a 1/2 second pause and 3 clicks. Almost like the motor has died. With nothing to lose, I took off the cover, everything looks fine, I powered it up, the Heads move from the outside to the inside of the platter in 1/4 inch then the heads knock against the center a bit, but nothing else. I rotated the platter touching only the outside of the platter, and it is free moving. There is another dark color arm I moved it carefully, it is all ok, Took board off put back on, did not see any dirt, sits on memory foam type stuff, all contacts look ok. Put back together, nope nothing.
May try hair dryer, maybe it has some component that needs reflowing. Easy to remove PCB just 4 torx screws. Lifts out. WOrth a shot. sometimes heat will get things working again. Seldom cold, but if yours responds to cold, it probably will stop working soon after it warms up. That is a sign that a chip has failed, and will need replacing. So PCB swap is the answer, if the flash chip can be swapped. I suppose Static COULD damage things, but most times it is safe I have had drives sitting out of the static bags, and unless something got spilled on it, never a problem. Really OLD hard drives develop what is called Sticktion. Usually you can get them to work by shaking the drive in a rotational or tapping on it some and once it spins up it will be ok, at least long enough to get the data off of it before discarding it to the recycle bin. Do this with power applied from your USB Brick adaptor device, and maybe shaking it might get it spinning again. Modern drives do not usually have this problem. If it clicks AFTER spinning up, kind of a kerchunk kerchunk, then that is sign that the heads had crashed into the platter, while still spinning, Often because it got dropped hard while running. Always let the drive fully stop before moving it around. Put your ear up to it, you can hear it spinning. Also do not move the drive rapidly while it is in use. If the drive clicks all the time when it is on, or when it is accessed, your chances of data recovery are limited. I use MINI TOOLS data recovery Pro, boots from a CD, may take many hours to attempt recovery. If the drive starts clicking or clanking when it starts to analyze portion of the program, then it probably is toast. I let one go in a notebook for 3 hours, then the drive simply spun down and stopped working. No hope. When the drive causes your computer to lock up in the OS, then however it still can usually get at even deleted files and folders, and does an amazing job restoring. May not get filenames right on deleted files and folders, but you can fix that later on using rename, or even bulk rename. MINI TOOLS moves the recovered data to another folder or drive that you hook up to your computer or just to the computer your using. I used it when my NAS drive started dyng, and it got almost everything off of it. Struggled a lot and took like 8 hours to get it moved. But unlike Windows or Linux, it does not give up easily and it will go past the bad areas of the drive to get your data off the bad drive.
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