Why your Freezer is no Place for a Hard Drive!
It’s one of those urban legends that simply refuses to die: ‘placing a
failed hard in your freezer will make the drive functional for a short period
of time thus allowing you to recover your data.’ Now, whilst this argument may
be based partly on logic, it’s still not something we at Fields Data Recovery
would recommend. Why? Because it’s highly unlikely that it’s going to work and
is, in all probability, going to result in your drive suffering irreparable damage.
This theory emerged because, should a drive’s spindle (the part that is used
to rotate the platters on which data is stored) fail, then freezing the drive
can, occasionally, realign the spindle thus allowing you to use the drive for a
short period of time. Previously, this may have been a feasible option as the
storage space on older drives was significantly smaller meaning that less data
needed to be transferred. Today, however, it is extremely unlikely that the
drive will function for long enough for you to transfer your data to an
alternate device. Furthermore, it was far more likely that the contraction
caused by freezing would realign the spindle on older drives. Freezing a newer
model is unlikely to resolve this matter.
Oh, and let’s not forget that condensation can gather on the drive’s platter
and then freeze. This not only directly damages the platter itself but can also
disrupt the movement of the read/write head thus bringing about another
physical fault. Equally concerning is that, should the read/write head dislodge
this ice, it will be dragged across the platters and damage their top layer,
the likelihood being that the data stored within these locations will become irretrievable.
Ultimately, placing a hard drive in the freezer is a very, very bad idea.
The arguments behind it can seem logical but the merest degree of analysis will
lead you to conclude that the most probable outcome is a hard drive that is
damaged beyond repair. This is a myth which – along with placing water-damaged phones in rice, opening up failed hard drives or hitting them in the hope it
fixes the problem – is going to do more harm than good.
When a hard drive or any other kind of storage media fails (don’t get us
started on the damage you could cause by placing an SSD in your freezer) your
best option is always to contact the professionals here at Fields Data
Recovery. We’ve offices throughout the UK and provide data recovery services in
London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Cardiff.