External Drive Fix

[Barry Beckham]

When we set up our computers after emmigrating to Australia I found one of our external drives refused to work. The lights came on, but there was no-one at home.

None of my externals have unrepeatable stuff on them and this one was only a misc drive so I just used it as a backup of a backup for the trip. I tried a few things to get it going including different PC's, but nothing worked. I was about to call it a day and throw it out when something came up at the camera club here in Australia.

Someone said they had heard about a tip pros use to get external drives working. It was to put them in the freezer for a while. Now when you hear that you look around for people chuckling, but no-one was. I tried it and it worked. I was able to gain full access to the drive and just double check that their wasn't anything on that I needed. The funny thing it has kept going even after it became warmed up.

I am a bit nervous about using it for anything of worth, but as a back up of a backup, why not.

So there is a solution that could be well worth putting into the gray matter for the time when we may need it.

[davegee]

I have a (very) vague memory of this approach being used to "reset" codes on car radios a long time ago.

DaveG

[Ken Cox]

buy new

ken

[Barry Beckham]

buy new

ken

Of course don't trust the drive after one failure, but what a great way to possibly redeem stuff that may be lost. You know how some are lack about backing up and only regret it after the horse has bolted

[deskjet1uk]

Hi Barry,

This has been around for several years. I remember my old professor using this trick on an old hard drive that literally froze, although early nineties drives were not as good as todays, it still allowed him to get the information off that he really needed, so yes it does bring results as I also have seen it work, a great tip not to be ignored.

regards

ralph

[denwell]

Neat trick Barry

So how long was it in the freezer for, and did you try it out still 'frozen' or when defrosted?

[Barry Beckham]

Neat trick Barry

So how long was it in the freezer for, and did you try it out still 'frozen' or when defrosted?

I tried it for 30 mins and that didn't work so I left it overnight and then plugged it straight in and it worked

[fh1805]

I've been thinking about the science behind this solution.

Two of the "environmental enemies" of electronic components are excessive heat and excessive humidity. (Others are excessive dust and excessive vibration). This fix is addressing both of those directly: the temperature is being lowered (quite radically) and at sub-zero, the air is a lot less humid.

Another factor might be that, having been acclimatised to sub-zero temps, the electronic components will have physically contracted; and so any loose connections might have closed themselves naturally.

So, a question for Barry, does the device still work OK after it has fully warmed up to normal Aussie room temperature? I'm presuming your home is air-conditioned.

regards,

Peter

[Lin Evans]

Hi Peter,

The "freeze" temporary "fix" for hard drives deals primarily with the "bearings" supporting the platter. After years of use, and even though running in a pretty much "sealed" environment, the bearings develop carbon deposits which, added with the heat of running and the resultant expansion of metals, cause a bearing freeze so that the platter either won't turn at all or turns too slowly. Freezing for an extended period caused a contraction of the differential metals and allows the platter once more to spin as it should. Though the drive may operate normally even for extended periods, the probability of ultimate failure is much higher and this process should really be only used to get the valuable data off an onto a newer device.

Best regards,

Lin

[Barry Beckham]

Peter

I just plugged in that drive that hasn't been running now for 3-4 weeks and its still working

Barry

[Ken Cox]

guess the drive didn't want another cool job

HILARIOUS JOKES AND HUMOR ARCHIVES

Have you heard about the man who owned a parrot that swore like a sailor? This parrot was so terrible, it could swear for five minutes straight without repeating itself. One day the man finally got tired of this parrot's horrible speech, and decided to do something about it.

He grabbed the parrot by the throat, shaked it really hard, and yelled, "QUIT IT!" every time the parrot said something ungodly. But this just made the parrot mad, and it swore more than ever.

Next the man tried locking the bird in a kitchen cabinet. This really aggravated the parrot, and it clawed and scratched furiously until the man finally let him out (upon which the bird released it's fury in a torrent of language so horrible it could never be repeated).

At that point, the man was so frustrated that he threw the parrot into the freezer. For the first few seconds the parrot made a terrible amount of noise in protest to this treatment, kicking, clawing, and thrashing about. But after a few moments it suddenly went very quiet.

As the silence grew longer the man started to think that the parrot may be hurt. After a couple minutes of silence, he became so worried that he opened up the freezer door. The parrot calmly climbed onto the man's outstretched arm and said, "Awfully sorry about the trouble I gave you. I'll do my best to improve my vocabulary from now on."

Of course, the man was astounded. He could not understand the transformation that had come over his unruly parrot. Then the parrot asked, "By the way, what did the chicken do?"

ken