When, and when not to freeze your hard drive.
I have been reading a lot of posts on these forums lately; one of the stock answers from people is to freeze the hard drive that has issues.
If we remember back to our basic science lessons, we understand that the temperature metal is at affects the overall size. Hot temperatures will expand metal, cold temperatures shrink the metal. When we take into account this elementary fact about properties of metals we can then ask ourselves what exactly are the benefits of freezing a hard drive.
There are a number of problems that a hard drive can develop over time, with general use and wear and tear. There is percussive damage, heat related damage and component failure to take into account. This is not even delving into the myriad of software, firmware and file system corruption that can interrupt normal operation of a hard drive.
A lot of people will recommend putting a drive into a freezer based on anecdotal evidence, at best. There is only really one problem that can be resolved with freezing a hard drive, a stuck head.
Stuck heads are typically caused by interruption of power to the hard drive during normal read/write operation. The problem will be exacerbated by overly hot components, usually caused by insufficient conductive and airflow related cooling. When the components in the drive get hot, they expand making the cushion of air that the heads travel on across the surface of the drive smaller.
Normally an interruption in power will not cause significant damage to a drive as the platters have sufficient kinetic spin left to allow the voice coil actuator to let the heads move to the ‘parked’ position. However any components that may be markedly enlarged by heat could reduce the effectiveness of this normal operating procedure. The clearance that the heads have from the platter surface is reduced and the cushion of air that they ride on interrupted enough to cause a ‘head slap’ or even more catastrophically the head to rest in an improperly ‘parked’ position on the data containing platter surface.
Only rarely do the heads actually stick to the platter surface however, in a large number of cases the heads will not affix to the platter but just spin up into the ‘park’ position and then continue normal operation, however ‘head slap’ and unusual contact with the platter surface is the most common cause of bad sectors in a hard drive.
So, when can you freeze your hard drive to a benefit?
When you have ascertained that the heads are actually stuck to the platter surface. To do this, you need to either correctly identify the sound that a hard drive makes when the motor is unable to spin due to obstruction, you can then examine the position of the heads relative to their normal ‘parked’ position.
When shouldn’t you freeze a hard drive?
My own personal quick answer is to never freeze a hard drive that you want to continue use of. Freezing hard drives causes condensation on the drive in the majority of cases. Depending on the make or model of your drive, will depend how many metal fragments are inside your drive as most have trace metal shavings and components that are very susceptible to short circuit especially from water conduction. Not to mention that the internal components of the hard drive are sometimes predisposed to rust, so prolonged use of the drive will be impossible.
In summary, ‘the freezer trick’ is often not the answer to your problem. At best most of the people that suggest it have anecdotal evidence that it works. Personally I have recovered well over 1,000 hard drives using good judgment and technical knowledge of the internal workings of the hard drive. I wouldn’t trust a technician that suggest sticking anything but plastics in the freezer for a fix.
Martin Dare
Affordable data recovery
I have been reading a lot of posts on these forums lately; one of the stock answers from people is to freeze the hard drive that has issues.
If we remember back to our basic science lessons, we understand that the temperature metal is at affects the overall size. Hot temperatures will expand metal, cold temperatures shrink the metal. When we take into account this elementary fact about properties of metals we can then ask ourselves what exactly are the benefits of freezing a hard drive.
There are a number of problems that a hard drive can develop over time, with general use and wear and tear. There is percussive damage, heat related damage and component failure to take into account. This is not even delving into the myriad of software, firmware and file system corruption that can interrupt normal operation of a hard drive.
A lot of people will recommend putting a drive into a freezer based on anecdotal evidence, at best. There is only really one problem that can be resolved with freezing a hard drive, a stuck head.
Stuck heads are typically caused by interruption of power to the hard drive during normal read/write operation. The problem will be exacerbated by overly hot components, usually caused by insufficient conductive and airflow related cooling. When the components in the drive get hot, they expand making the cushion of air that the heads travel on across the surface of the drive smaller.
Normally an interruption in power will not cause significant damage to a drive as the platters have sufficient kinetic spin left to allow the voice coil actuator to let the heads move to the ‘parked’ position. However any components that may be markedly enlarged by heat could reduce the effectiveness of this normal operating procedure. The clearance that the heads have from the platter surface is reduced and the cushion of air that they ride on interrupted enough to cause a ‘head slap’ or even more catastrophically the head to rest in an improperly ‘parked’ position on the data containing platter surface.
Only rarely do the heads actually stick to the platter surface however, in a large number of cases the heads will not affix to the platter but just spin up into the ‘park’ position and then continue normal operation, however ‘head slap’ and unusual contact with the platter surface is the most common cause of bad sectors in a hard drive.
So, when can you freeze your hard drive to a benefit?
When you have ascertained that the heads are actually stuck to the platter surface. To do this, you need to either correctly identify the sound that a hard drive makes when the motor is unable to spin due to obstruction, you can then examine the position of the heads relative to their normal ‘parked’ position.
When shouldn’t you freeze a hard drive?
My own personal quick answer is to never freeze a hard drive that you want to continue use of. Freezing hard drives causes condensation on the drive in the majority of cases. Depending on the make or model of your drive, will depend how many metal fragments are inside your drive as most have trace metal shavings and components that are very susceptible to short circuit especially from water conduction. Not to mention that the internal components of the hard drive are sometimes predisposed to rust, so prolonged use of the drive will be impossible.
In summary, ‘the freezer trick’ is often not the answer to your problem. At best most of the people that suggest it have anecdotal evidence that it works. Personally I have recovered well over 1,000 hard drives using good judgment and technical knowledge of the internal workings of the hard drive. I wouldn’t trust a technician that suggest sticking anything but plastics in the freezer for a fix.
Martin Dare
Affordable data recovery
