Unfortunately if the freezer doesn’t help, I don’t know what else to try. It has a very slim chance of working, and only in a few situations. The problem could be elsewhere, or too severe, or anything.

I mentioned Knoppix (or any Linux) because it did a better job of reading the hard disk than Windows — if Windows finds problems with the disk, it often freezes and doesn’t let you read the drive, even after “the freezer trick” or other methods. Linux is much more fail-safe and can usually read a drive if it’s remotely possible.

In today’s world I’d recommend Ubuntu, as Knoppix is a little outdated. You can boot Ubuntu from a CD, then attempt to read the drive from there. If that doesn’t work, then it’s likely a severe problem that will require data recovery.

If anything, you will learn from this: Backup backup backup, then backup again. Good luck.

I have a Hitachi Travelstar 80GB in my laptop running XP. It started with overheating a few months ago.(I would run my computer with intense CPU/HD usage, from video, sound rendering) It would overheat then, then restart. As long as I am not running anything intense, it is okay. I installed a temperature monitor to gauge the temps.

Eventually the HD would begin to click and knock every so often. I wish I knew that that was a bad sign. I thought I was in the clear and the problem was it overheating. Then while in usage the knocking became constant and shut down. I tried to reboot and it didn’t recognize the data. The bios recognized the drive, but that was it.

At this point, I was worried for my data, I researched online to look for solutions. I saw the freezer method, the flashing the firmware on the HD method, the swapping out parts with a identical HD method, and of course the costly data recovery.

Before I did anything, I got all possible methods available. I tried the freezer method(1 hour and 2 hour freeze times), to boot up and also in an external enclosure. Both failed, still with constant knocking. I tried the firmware flashing, but could not put the HD into safe mode so it would not spin up. And the swapping of parts, I didn’t want to waste 100 bucks on another drive to have it fail. I think I could have done it without a clean room, but it was too much of a costly risk.

A few questions if you could. How did you use Knoppix to solve this? Do you think it would help me? Is there any thing other than what I described that I should try? In a last resort, any ideas on a good data recovery service?

Much Obliged,
Sincerely,

Steev “In parts”

We used three bags, like I said, just to be safe. Originally we had put the drive in the freezer for a couple hours, but we had to get so much data (the huge Outlook datastore) that the drive warmed up before we could get it. Thus, we had to bring the freezer to the computer

An alternative would be dry ice. I think you’d still have the condensation problem though, so multiple bags are a necessity. If you have a vacuum pump, use it, otherwise suck as much air out as possible.

It only works in some situations, but it’s incredible that it works at all sometimes.

Condensation is the enemy with this technique.

If you’re unable to recover the data, again suck the air out of the inner ziplock, then leave the bag out until the drive has reached room temperature. This way, all of the condensation is on the outside of the ziplock, and you’ll still be able to send the drive off to a recovery company if you have to.

Personally, if the data is worth the price, I always recommend data recovery services.