Can freezing a hard drive allow you to recover data?

WE DO NOT RECOMMEND TRYING THIS UNLESS YOU ARE SERIOUSLY WILLING TO RISK YOUR DATA!!!! This is a yes/no answer. Yes, if the head (the little magnetic end to the arm inside the drive) is stuck. Freezing any metals will cause them to contract or shrink a little. If you try this, you will want to put the hard drive in a zip lock bag for at least 6 hours at below 32 degrees. The zip lock bag will reduce condensation problems in the freezer. The metal will shrink just enough to maybe let you get about 5 to 10 minutes of life out of the drive to get some data off it, providing you move very fast to get it back in the computer and it is not 100 degrees in the room. The answer NO comes in if there is any other problems. If the head fell off or you have head crash your only going to make the problem irreversibly worse.  (Return to FAQ page)