It's a link I picked up off another website. Interestingly enough, it won't work unless you click it while at the site.
Very strange.
But ... here's some of the content from the .pdf file:
From: jphillips
If the drive is spinning and you are experiencing these kinds of errors, my experience has been that you are out of luck.
If the drive is not spinning, I have been able to remove it from the computer and 'spin' the drive on a flat smooth surface (much like spin the bottle). This will usually free the drive and when placed back in the machine, it will boot. You should immediately back up your data after a successful boot, because the problem will return.
The next 'fix' was actually given to me by a Compaq technician several years ago. I had a drive that would not spin and he told me to put the drive in a plastic bag in the freezer overnight and then install back in the computer. Believe it or not, the drive booted. I have only tried this the one time.
From: John Turcotte
In the past, when a drive has failed after it has been running for a short period, I have removed it from the
machine and placed it in a freezer for a couple of hours, then hooked it up again. It sometimes will run long enough to remove the data to another safe storage medium.
From: David Furlow
One of the methods I have used before (sometimes even successfully) is to actually remove the drive from the PC, place it in the freezer for a day, then quickly put it back in the machine and try to access it.
Why does this work? Who knows, but I heard about this tactic years ago, and it has saved my behind on a couple of occasions. (Of course, if it comes back up, back up the data immediately.... Guess that should go without saying.)
From: Keri D.
Hard drive revival:
A technique I have learned is if you bring the temperature of the hard drive down to the freezing point by putting it in a freezer first and then taking it back out, somehow the condensation from bringing it back to room temperature helps revive it for about 20 minutes. It can be repeated about 5-6 times tops. Long enough to get out any important files that need to be backed up. It has been proven to work a number of times.
From: Christopher Post
How do you bring a hard drive back to life?
My situation:
Half of a volume set goes south on a WinNT server, no good backup and an angry boss screaming about the data being mission critical.
My solution:
** A bit unorthodox but, it has saved my butt! **
· Turn off the server.
· Take out the failing hard drive and wrap a static bag around it.
· Throw it in the freezer conveniently located in the break room.
· Pray for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Leaving the hard drive in the bag, quickly plug the drive back into the server. (Just plug the in cables
and go.) Cross fingers, turn it on, and move all data off the drive as fast as you can! Then add a tape drive and
start backing the dumb thing up!
My so-called logic:
Metal contracts when it is cold.... so the platters shrink and increase the clearance for the read/write heads.
From: Chris Poole
Put the drive in the freezer for about a week and then you can usually get one last read off the drive.
From: Cheyenne Robert Alspach
Here are some drive recovery tricks that have worked for me, in the order that I do them. Try booting the drive and copying the data off after every step.
1. Hold the drive upside down, making gravity change the head geometry ever so slightly. Vertical is also another option.
2. Slightly rap the drive with your knuckle, (but nowhere near hard enough to damage the drive).
3. Try the drive in another machine, (slight drive voltage change assumed to be the miracle worker here).
4. Rap the drive just SLIGHTLY harder than you did above in
5. Freeze the hard drive in the freezer for two hours, and place in a plastic zip lock bag to prevent condensation from forming on the drive when you plug it back into the system, (head geometry, electrical resistance lowered, electrical contact points adjusted, etc., assumed to be the miracle here).
6. After the drive warms up to room temperature or better, rap it even harder with your knuckle this time.
7. Repeat all of above steps on next day, as sometimes I've gotten data off drive simply by trying again.
If you want to access the link, go here: <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/btvillarin/history.htm" target="_new">Windows Help</A>
It's listed under Sunday, February 10, 2002.
Sorry for the confusion.
Toejam31
<font color=red>My Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new"><font color=green>Toejam31's Tantalizing Tantric Toy</font color=green></A>
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<font color=purple>"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."</font color=purple>
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