Freezer Trick insight

T

tangokilla

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 18, 2008
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Came home from class and my PC was sitting at a boot error. I tried to boot up, and a nasty clicking sound was coming from my 600gig Seagate (failed after almost exactly one year of use). I'm trying the baggie trick but before I do, I wanted to know if I had any other options.

It gives a "Disk error, please restart" or wte when I boot up. However, when I go to BIOS it does show up in the menu, etc.

About the baggie trick, I know you're supposed to put it in a airtight to avoid condensation and leave it overnight. I've also from someone here that you can put a wash cloth around the hard drive after yo take it out which keeps you from accidentally shorting something, and limits the air that can get to the drive to form condensation.

Also, about how much do those services cost that recover your data? Any ideas?

Thanks for any help!
 
Services typically charge by MB/GB recovered.

Something like 2000USD for a full hard drive (200GB?) isn't out of the oridinary.
 
jeremyshaw said:
Services typically charge by MB/GB recovered.

Something like 2000USD for a full hard drive (200GB?) isn't out of the oridinary.
Click to expand...

Daymmmmmmm! Would wanna be some good hardcore p0rn on there to pay that much to have it recovered
 
What about just a file or two?

I had a few documents (really 1-2) that important were quite important and would take too long to make again. I would rather invest the money to retrieve them than invest the time.

Would a local service like the Geek Squad at Bestbuy do this?

Also, I've read mixed thoughts on the Freezer Trick. Does it work more than once? Can I put it in the freezer and try it working temporarily JUST once, or multiple times depending on how lucky I get (how much 'life' it may still have left)?

Again, thanks for any information.
 
tangokilla said:
What about just a file or two?

I had a few documents (really 1-2) that important were quite important and would take too long to make again. I would rather invest the money to retrieve them than invest the time.

Would a local service like the Geek Squad at Bestbuy do this?

Also, I've read mixed thoughts on the Freezer Trick. Does it work more than once? Can I put it in the freezer and try it working temporarily JUST once, or multiple times depending on how lucky I get (how much 'life' it may still have left)?

Again, thanks for any information.
Click to expand...
1. I believe they can do this, but it's still really pricey.
2. no, geek squad will not do it on their own. They outsource to another company, so you'd just end up paying more.
3. Freezer trick only works ONCE. Regardless of the care you take the avoid condensation, unless you're in a clean room there will be enough to destroy your disk. Keeping your disk cold once you're using it will allow you to get more time out of it. This requires lots of ice and a way to keep the disk dry. Once that disk starts to spin, it's real hard to keep cool. If you freeze it and it doesn't work, you're definitely SOL.
4. Freezer trick usually doesn't invalidate the data on the platters, so recovery companies can still help you.
 
If its a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 that was part of the batch that had bad firmware, Data Recovery is covered under the warranty, IIRC. Check the Seagate site.
 
The freezer trick worked here:
hour, in freezer, 1.. paper towell 2... rubber band
Files recoverable if rushed to ide channel2 OR equivalent, for about 5 - 10
minutes, at which time subdir's (folders) become unreadable.
Return to freezer, another hour, repeat.
If it works the first time, you can repeat the 5-10 minute recovery for as long
as new files can be copied off...
One must know the copy hard-to-hard-disk commands or procedures first tho.
 
jb_hafo: Copy commands? meaning you weren't able to see the disk in Win and therefore had to use something else? what?
 
enginurd said:
If its a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 that was part of the batch that had bad firmware, Data Recovery is covered under the warranty, IIRC. Check the Seagate site.
Click to expand...

Well, this is kind of good news. I do have a Barrucuda 7200.11. But I googled the model number and there are numerous sites that are saying something along these lines:

'Although Seagate has reportedly acknowledged the problem and issued a firmware update with a fix, those with existing drives aren't being offered more than replacement drives that often have the same issue. The company has also taken to deleting posts on its forums suggesting possible fixes and insists that customers aren't entitled to additional compensation besides the warranty.'

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/01/13/seagate.barracuda.failures/

EDIT: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/barracuda_failure_plague/
Well, this is kind of good news. I do have a Barrucuda 7200.11. But I googled the model number and there are numerous sites that are saying something along these lines:

'Although Seagate has reportedly acknowledged the problem and issued a firmware update with a fix, those with existing drives aren't being offered more than replacement drives that often have the same issue. The company has also taken to deleting posts on its forums suggesting possible fixes and insists that customers aren't entitled to additional compensation besides the warranty.'
 
Last edited:
Check your model and serial number here.

Seagate was offering data recovery for affected drives.

Go to the website if yours had the bad firmware.
 
Those are the initial reports (old). Seagate realized their error and extended the data recovery services for affected drives.
 
However, when I go to BIOS it does show up in the menu, etc.
Click to expand...

This would indicate that your drive was not bricked by bad firmware and won't be eligible for free data recovery.

Soooo, you're back where you started.
 
XS Janus said:
jb_hafo: Copy commands? meaning you weren't able to see the disk in Win and therefore had to use something else? what?
Click to expand...

Well, at the time I dual booted (4 partitions on disk, 2 windows98, 2 Freebsd.)
With a new freebsd disk from backup, I mounted the old disk on a mountpoint
(akin to a new drive letter in Windows). I then used Bsd commands (similar
to xxcopy, xxcopy16 freeware/shareware) to copy missing files
from the newer-files hosed drive to the less
recent, newer physical disk subdirectories.
.........
About 4 freezer sessions.
........
 
freezer trick didnt work on a laptop drive i was trying to recover files off of. that drive just stopped booting, has a nasty shutoff click every minute and no matter how cold i get it, its just junk.
 
Old Hippie said:
This would indicate that your drive was not bricked by bad firmware and won't be eligible for free data recovery.

Soooo, you're back where you started.
Click to expand...

Well I just tested it again with HDD Regenerator, and it won't even show up in BIOS now :[
 
tangokilla said:
Well I just tested it again with HDD Regenerator, and it won't even show up in BIOS now :[
Click to expand...

She's dead...give 'ur a nice funeral.

You probably had a mechanical problem and HDD Regenerator killed it by constantly re-reading bad sectors.

You can try the Seagate free data recovery option but I'll bet they "see" what killed your drive.

Don't feel too bad. You didn't have much chance for a home-brew recovery anyway.
 
Old Hippie said:
She's dead...give 'ur a nice funeral.

You probably had a mechanical problem and HDD Regenerator killed it by constantly re-reading bad sectors.

You can try the Seagate free data recovery option but I'll bet they "see" what killed your drive.

Don't feel too bad. You didn't have much chance for a home-brew recovery anyway.
Click to expand...

Well, I hadn't loaded any recovery, before I even started the Regenerator it said it didn't detect any HDs.

If I have a few downloaded files, will Seagate take any action?
 
before I even started the Regenerator it said it didn't detect any HDs.
Click to expand...

You scared it to death! :D

I'm not sure by what you mean about the files but I don't think you have much chance of free data recovery.

A regular RMA is probably as good as it's gonna get.
 
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