{"id":6294,"date":"2016-03-15T14:12:05","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T21:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:drivesaversdatarecovery.com\/\/?p=6294"},"modified":"2026-03-05T05:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:00:30","slug":"pcworld-that-old-freezer-trick-to-save-a-hard-drive-doesnt-work-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drivesaversdatarecovery.com\/fi\/press-coverage\/pcworld-that-old-freezer-trick-to-save-a-hard-drive-doesnt-work-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"PCWorld: That Old ‘Freezer Trick’ to Save a Hard Drive Doesn’t Work Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Originally published by\u00a0<\/a>PCWorld<\/strong><\/a>.<\/a><\/em>
\nBy Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld<\/em><\/p>\n

Properly backing up your data is still the first line of defense.<\/h2>\n

In 2007, we listed\u00a0the \u201cfreezer trick\u201d as one of the solutions to revive a failed hard drive. Well, consider that solution as over as the last Ice Age.<\/p>\n

Freezing a hard drive is one of those home remedies that date from the early days of computing, alongside such tried-and-true methods as blowing on a game cartridge to improve its chances of being read by a Nintendo 64. The thing is, it\u00a0did<\/em> work. But now, storage experts say, you stand a better chance of making the problem worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what that article might say, the freezer trick doesn\u2019t work,\u201d\u00a0Scott Moyer, the president at DriveSavers Data Recovery<\/a>, told PCWorld.<\/p>\n

Why this matters:\u00a0<\/strong>While you may do everything right\u2014back up files to cloud storage as well as an external hard drive, save key files on optical data, update promptly\u2014chances are you know someone who hasn\u2019t been as careful. Maybe they have an old PC, and they\u2019re faced with the realization that all of their family photos could be lost. If you\u2019re tempted to use the old trick that we all grew up with, this pro says to think twice.<\/p>\n

What is the freezer trick?<\/h2>\n

At one time, a hard drive might suddenly lock up for any number of reasons, succumbing to the \u201cclick of death\u201d or other failures. One of them could be what drive vendors called \u201cstiction,\u201d a fancy name for a drive whose lubrication failed. The drive\u2019s platters essentially \u201cstuck,\u201d and the drive wouldn\u2019t read data. That meant, of course, that any data stored on it was potentially lost forever.<\/p>\n

The \u201cfreezer trick\u201d involved\u00a0sticking the drive in a waterproof plastic bag, and then into the freezer. If you left it alone for a few hours, the cold would cool the metal down enough to constrict it, and, in some cases, free up the disks to spin. The idea behind the freezer trick was to save the data by then quickly copying it to another device before another lockup occurred, Moyer said.<\/p>\n

Stiction, though, is largely a thing of the past.\u00a0Modern and more complex drives have improved lubrication systems and \u201coff-platter parking\u201d (where the drive stores its head off the surface of the disk, like a phonograph, when not in use), to prevent this problem from occurring, Moyer explained. \u201cAs a result, stiction rarely happens with today\u2019s technology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe science behind this suggestion is actually solid,\u201d Moyer said. \u201cHowever, with the advancement of technology, it\u2019s no longer appropriate and should not be attempted. That\u2019s because the potential for damage and\/or data loss greatly outweighs any potential benefit of chilling your hard drive.\u201d<\/p>\n