question Freezing your hard drive. Anyone done it?

[fv1609]

Googling around I find that a last ditch attempt to resurrect your hard drive is to put it in a plastic bag & stick it in the freezer for 24 hours. Has anyone been desperate enough to try that & did it work? The basis being that circuitary may contract & it might recover before it warms up.

 

My online PC has crashed & then crashed even more! On switch on it wouldn't boot as an essential file was missing. googling found many bits of advice, but they required inserting the XP installation disc. I can't do that, as it is preloaded. The advice for that fizzles out & most sites want to sell you something.

 

I didn't want to lose 2 months of emails & downloads (since the last crash!) I took the hard drive out & connected it to this PC. But it wouldn't recognise the drive. I refitted it back into the online PC, but now it won't recognise the hard drive either. So I assume it has died, I just wanted to retrieve the files. I don't think that I would trust the drive to run the operating system even if there was some recovery.

[gritineye]

Can't help with the freezing Clive, but there are ways of avoiding this situation, this in my way.

 

ON my desktop PC (XP) which has most of my stuff on, I use Casper to clone my hard drive, this creates a complete copy of the hard drive including the operating system, onto a second hard drive so that if something goes wrong you can just switch off your PC and restart it on the backup drive and it is exactly the same as it was at the time of the last backup, you can be up and running in minutes even after a hard drive fails completely.

 

http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/benefits.aspx

 

I just installed a second HDrive that I took from an old PC into a spare slot in my desktop PC and cloned onto that, I then disable it so nothing can affect it, this has saved me from two bad PC crashes, no need to even bother finding out what went wrong.

 

A remote USB drive is best so you can put it somewhere safe away from your PC, get one bigger than the one in your PC.

 

 

[chevpol]

Googling around I find that a last ditch attempt to resurrect your hard drive is to put it in a plastic bag & stick it in the freezer for 24 hours. Has anyone been desperate enough to try that & did it work? The basis being that circuitary may contract & it might recover before it warms up.

 

My online PC has crashed & then crashed even more! On switch on it wouldn't boot as an essential file was missing. googling found many bits of advice, but they required inserting the XP installation disc. I can't do that, as it is preloaded. The advice for that fizzles out & most sites want to sell you something.

 

I didn't want to lose 2 months of emails & downloads (since the last crash!) I took the hard drive out & connected it to this PC. But it wouldn't recognise the drive. I refitted it back into the online PC, but now it won't recognise the hard drive either. So I assume it has died, I just wanted to retrieve the files. I don't think that I would trust the drive to run the operating system even if there was some recovery.

 

I know somebody who could possibly recover the files etc for you Clive, dont know how much she would charge you for it though.

 

If you want to pm me, I will give you her phone number?

 

All the best

 

Mark

 

Ps, just looked at my friends website, DONT freeze hard drives, could cause condensation and make a;ll data unrecoverable

Edited January 19, 2010 by chevpol

[sirhc]

Clive,

 

You need to try some software called SpinRite. This trawls through your hard drive repairing bad sectors. Any files which have bits missing it will analyse and try to determine what the missing bit should be like. I've fixed loads of computers with it.

 

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

 

Chris

[fv1609]

Thanks both. 'Luckily' I had a crash/serious instability 2 months ago & I transferred all my internet stuff & email programmes onto here. I did a complete a re-install on the other PC after & copied it all back. But left the stuff here which I am now using.

 

I don't think it's worth the hassle & expense as basically it is 2 months of email most of which is not that critical & images of Humbers & RUC stuff I have trawled from ebay.

 

After I couldn't get at the files. I resigned myself to a reinstall of XP & losing everything else. I had a sneaky hope that I might recover the lost stuff, as I have a recovery programme that has been useful in bringing back deleted stuff unless it has been over written.

 

I wonder with Casper if you have a virus get through & knocks out the primary system, if it is being so closely cloned will it not knock out the cloned system at the same time?

 

Chris I've just seen your post. I'll follow up that. I can't be sure that the hard drive has life. It gets warm & I can feel slight hum movement inside. But I'm not sure how anything could be retrieved as this PC doesn't recognise it & the other says there is no operating system & no drive.

 

As far as back-up goes. These fiiles are on a different partition on this drive & I back up weekly onto an external drive. Then 2-weekly I back up on to a couple of other drives stored in various other places.

 

But if it was all being done by Casper as I go along it would be up to date, so worth me thinking about.

[gritineye]

I always do a complete virus scan before cloning, the clone can be checked by booting with it at any time.

 

My older version of Casper does not support cloning to a separate PC, not sure about current version though.

 

If you use a USB drive your PC must have the ability to boot from it, not all do.

[fv1609]

Can it cope with the HD being partitioned? I have programmes on one 'drive' & files on the other part.

 

I need to untangle whether this can boot from USB. So I'd better start up & sniff around the BIOs which always a scary place for a young lad to go into!

 

I see there is a 30-day trial so I might go for that.

 

Many thanks

[gritineye]

Can it cope with the HD being partitioned? I have programmes on one 'drive' & files on the other part.

 

The entire disc is copied an exact clone, all partitions.

 

After I had booted the cloned disc after a big problem, I used it for a few days to make sure it was OK, then cloned it back onto the original HDD, this formatted and over wrote everything on that drive, booted from that, all OK!

[fv1609]

Yes OK. But the worry is now it doesn't look as if I can boot from USB.

 

So although I might have the files cloned & saved, I won't be able to get at the OS. So perhaps I should fit an internal second HD & pull plugs to make it boot from that if the need arises. Bit messy though, USB would have been nicer!

 

[gazzaw]

Clive

 

I had a real bad laptop HDD crash about a year ago and lost the lot- I contacted a friend in a local university who took my drive and got the IT Forensic dept to rebuild and recover 90% of what was previously not recoverable. This is the type of labs who can get data from drive that have been wiped, deliberately damaged, etc for forensic purposes. Never cost me anything but a bottle of wine.

 

Labs are always looking for live cases to practice their skills and software etc on, worth a try

 

Gary

[gritineye]

So although I might have the files cloned & saved, I won't be able to get at the OS. So perhaps I should fit an internal second HD & pull plugs to make it boot from that if the need arises. Bit messy though, USB would have been nicer!

 

No need for that messy stuff Clive, after cloning just disable the second drive in 'device manager' bizzarely enpough when you boot from it it will not be disabled!

 

 

 

If you don't boot from the second drive for a long while it may take a long time to update your anti-viruses and look for any drivers for anything you have plugged into your PC that wasn't there when the clone was made, but it will soon sort itself out.

 

PS it will show in you boot menu once plugged in.

Edited January 19, 2010 by gritineye
ps

[fv1609]

Gary, I don't have any connections like that. It's not really a great loss, just some of the frivolities of the internet. The PC I am on now for 3 years had never been online & had no connection to the online PC. So I felt fairly safe with that having 3 external back up drives around the placew. But it did require the discipline of having to remember to do it.

 

I have just taken the other HD out of the freezer after 6 hours. It made no difference. Showed up as no OS & no HD. I did insert the first of my boot CDs. Then I got this which I've never seen before. Not come across glue argument before! So I think that is a lost cause!

 

[fv1609]

GE ah yes it that was the PS that I was hoping to read.

 

So I'm glad it will know what to do when the time comes!

 

Many thanks to all. I have spent all day googling around getting near answers or not quite my problem. There were a few that had exactly my original problem & you follow through on a link & it has gone. Then some others say I can't launch PC all my course work is there I need it for next week then you see there were no answers & that was a post from 2002! So he must failed his course then.

[Adam Elsdon]

Clive

 

I had a real bad laptop HDD crash about a year ago and lost the lot- I contacted a friend in a local university who took my drive and got the IT Forensic dept to rebuild and recover 90% of what was previously not recoverable. This is the type of labs who can get data from drive that have been wiped, deliberately damaged, etc for forensic purposes. Never cost me anything but a bottle of wine.

 

Labs are always looking for live cases to practice their skills and software etc on, worth a try

 

Gary

 

Gary is right, you can get your drive cloned, byte for byte perfect copy (Hash verified), you then run specialist forensic software such as Encase (Not cheap and requires an encryption key) which recognises file types and reconstructs them, its no use as an operating system, but you can retrieve stored data even deleted and part overwritten files and save them as required.

Do this everyday as part of my job Forensically examining Mobile phones, its amazing what people think is long gone deleted that we recover!

 

If anybody thinks this is just the job for recovering data, please contact somebody else, unlike universities, we have more than enough to be doing!

Edited January 19, 2010 by Adam Elsdon

[gritineye]

Do this everyday as part of my job Forensically examining Mobile phones, its amazing what people think is long gone deleted that we recover! :cool2:

 

That must be great fun when you're looking at some cocky know all bad guy's phone!

[ArtistsRifles]

If you have a working PC on the web - do a search for a freebie bit of software called, IIRC - "Master Boot Disk".

Download and burn onto a blank CD then boot your defective PC from this CD. The software has diagnostic and recovery software on it for 99% of the hard drives manufacturers out there and I've used it a few times to recover stuffed hard disks.

 

Good luck mate!!

[fv1609]

Adam I had a quick look around for Encase. I couldn't see the answer for a do it yourself at home programme but it all looked rather high tec & expensive. But I'm not sure how it would work with a dead drive.

 

Neil I followed those up but even the microsoft ones relied on a floppy. Although the dead PC has a floppy drive, this working PC doesn't. Seemed a bit odd as I would have thought by the time XP came along most people would have abandoned floppies. But anyway I thought I would try the XP disc that I had from an earlier dead PC, that seemed to load up & I could feel & hear the HD wizzing with activity.

 

But it could find no HD & gave message:

PXE-E61 Media test failure check cable.

 

I had already substituted the cable from this PC but made no difference.

 

So I thought even if the OS is not recognised on the HD surely the files must be readable. So I plugged the HD into this PC. There is no life to it (yes I remembered the power lead!) & plug the other cable into the SATA1 socket next to the existing HD in SAT0.

 

But no recognition of this drive being there. Is there some activation I have to perform? With older PCs with two HDs I remember there was a little link plug that had to be fitted or removed depending which was master or slave. Both these drives have small 4 pin sockets next to the other two long sockets. Should one of these have a link?

 

Am I correct to have plugged the HD under test into SAT1?

 

[Adam Elsdon]

That must be great fun when you're looking at some cocky know all bad guy's phone!

 

You bet your ass!!!!:cool2:

[gritineye]

Serial ATA interface disk drives are designed for easy installation. It is not necessary to set any jumpers, terminators, or other settings on this drive for proper operation. The jumper block adjacent to the SATA interface connector on SATA 150MB/s drives is for factory use only. The jumper block adjacent to the SATA interface connector on SATA 300MB/s drives can be used to force the drive into SATA 150MB/s mode for use with older SATA controllers that only work with SATA 150MB/s drives.

With a Serial ATA interface, each disk drive has its own cable that connects directly to a Serial ATA host adapter or a Serial ATA port on your motherboard. Unlike Parallel ATA, there is no master-slave relationship between drives that use a Serial ATA interface.

 

 

Clive, does this help at all?

[philb]

I need to untangle whether this can boot from USB. So I'd better start up & sniff around the BIOs which always a scary place for a young lad to go into

 

Clive, where did you get the young lad from? Hold on, my incoming flack detector has just woken up.

 

Slightly more seriously, you could also try heating it (carefully) with a hair drier (the young lad might have one) before using it. It's less messy than playing around with water - which you will inevitably do if you cool it much.

 

Phil

[fv1609]

Serial ATA interface disk drives are designed for easy installation. It is not necessary to set any jumpers, terminators, or other settings on this drive for proper operation. The jumper block adjacent to the SATA interface connector on SATA 150MB/s drives is for factory use only. The jumper block adjacent to the SATA interface connector on SATA 300MB/s drives can be used to force the drive into SATA 150MB/s mode for use with older SATA controllers that only work with SATA 150MB/s drives.

With a Serial ATA interface, each disk drive has its own cable that connects directly to a Serial ATA host adapter or a Serial ATA port on your motherboard. Unlike Parallel ATA, there is no master-slave relationship between drives that use a Serial ATA interface.

 

Clive, does this help at all?

 

Oh crikey GE I'm sure it does, if I understood what that all meant. So you are saying those small little sockets on the drive should be ignored. Those 3 spare SATA sockets on the mother board can they be used to plug the lead for this drive for retrieiving the files. But it doesn't recognise it on any of them. Or is the only useable socket SATA0, the blue one? If it is then I lose my OS as the one on the drive under test is NBG.

[fv1609]

Clive, where did you get the young lad from?

 

Hmm, well there is no postable answer to that one! Sorry to disappoint, but I was refering to myself as a metaphorical youngster in the scary world of computing with the grown ups.

 

 

Slightly more seriously, you could also try heating it (carefully) with a hair drier (the young lad might have one) before using it. It's less messy than playing around with water - which you will inevitably do if you cool it much. Phil

 

I noticed with freezing that moisture started to appear, but it was only the bulky metallic bits. Anyway I've had it connected for most of the day to at least give it a good drying out!

 

Just frustrated that none of the drive is recognised by this PC.

[gritineye]

Clive, that computer fixing knowledge comes from the college of copy and paste, I am not sure what you are trying to do now, are you trying to use two drives.

 

I was at this same stage of trying to recover my system after a similar 'catastrophic event' on my previous PC, when I managed to do something really nasty to it and it died completely. I bought a new PC.

 

Hence Casper for me now.

[fv1609]

Clive, that computer fixing knowledge comes from the college of copy and paste, I am not sure what you are trying to do now, are you trying to use two drives.

 

Yes. The defective drive is partinioned with the OS in one bit & the files in the other.

 

As the OS wil not work from it, I cannot use that PC.

 

So the working PC I am on now has the defective drive also plugged in, with the hope that this PC would at least see the defective drive so I could at least lift the files out of it.

 

But there is no recognition that this extra drive is on it. Normally I would have expected messages flashed up about new hardware found. But it doesn't seem very interested!

[gritineye]

 

 

Configuring the BIOS

 

Close your computer case and restart your computer. Your computer may automatically detect your new drive. If your computer does not automatically detect your new drive, follow the steps below.

 

 

1. Restart your computer. While the computer restarts, run the system setup program (sometimes called BIOS or CMOS setup). This is usually done by pressing a special key, such as DELETE, ESC, or F1 during the startup process.
   
2. Within the system setup program, instruct the system to auto detect your new drive.
   
3. Save the settings and exit the setup program. When your computer restarts, it should recognize your new drive. If your system still doesn't recognize your new drive, see the troubleshooting section on the back of this sheet.
   Note: Serial ATA is a new interface type. Some older systems may see the drive and classify it as a SCSI device if you are using a Serial ATA host adapter. This is normal even though this is not a SCSI disc drive. Many systems’ BIOS will not identify a Serial ATA drive connected to a PCISATA host adapter. This is because a PCI SATA Host Adapter has its own BIOS which is used to identify hard drives connected to it which is separate from the BIOS of the computer. To determine whether or not theSATA Host Adapter is detecting the Serial ATA hard drive, please consult the documentation provided by the Serial ATA Host Adapter’s manufacturer. This does not affect drive performance or capacity.