Stephen Gregory wrote: : take the drive out of the usb case. : put the drive in the freezer for 12 hours or more. : take the drive out of the freezer and put in a bag (to keep it from : getting too much condensation.) I thought it was supposed to go into the freezer in the bag? I try to use a ziplock bag with all the air sucked out for this procedure. : I have no idea why this works. I know of 3 cases of this working : including myself. Given that most HDD failures are mechanical (anecdotally), freezing it causes slight shifts in sizes of the components on the inside. When they re-expand, they can adjust themselves to be back in proper positions. A friend of mine who's got a masters in theoretical physics also told me once that the temperature has an effect on the ability of the heads to read data from the platters, and that freezing them can make it easier. (Mind you, he made his point over the course of a half hour, and with many drawings and equations, all of which went over my head.) I know that freezing dead batteries -- rechargables that no longer hold a charge -- causes the chemical walls that are preventing the cells from charging to break down. Not completely, but enough to revive the battery again for a significant period of time.