[Techtalk] Hard drive failure - data recovery options?

[Megan Golding]

I asked about a presumably dead hard drive:
> > > This is more an academic exercise than real need to get at that
> > > data, so feel free to throw experimental ideas my way.

Conor Daly replied:
> > One thought is to boot rescue mode from a distro CD and see if
> > you can dd the hard disk off to another disk (or image file).

Maria Blackmore suggested:
> Judging by the failure mode, this probably has a good chance of
> success

Conor:
> > Failing that (ie. if the disk itself is failing), stick the disk
> > in a freezer overnight[0] and then try the rescue CD / dd trick.

Maria:
> If you do do this, PLEASE make sure that you put the drive in a
> sealed plastic bag, and i do mean airtight, before you put it in. 
> Preferably seal it in the plastic bag with a little pack of silica 
> gel, and leave it for several hours before putting it in the
freezer
> This [works] best on drives where the electronics or head are
> failing, since electronic components tend to work better when 
> cold.  It can also be used in many cases to salvage data from a 
> dying fujitsu drive with a suspect cirrus logic chip.

Am I right in presuming the sealed bag with silica is to keep
condensation down?

I'll try the dd on a room temperature drive and if that doesn't work,
on the cold drive, and let y'all know how it goes. Thanks for the
tips!

Meg, now wishing she hadn't eaten all the silica packets

=====
Meg Golding    |    http://www.kalamitykat.com

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