There is nothing worse than relaying to a customer that their hard drive has failed and therefore there nothing can be done to recovered year’s of accumulated documents and irreplaceable photographs. Most of our customers take it really well but to some, it feels as though they have lost a loved one.

Recently I was working on a stubborn failing hard drive that was getting worse by the second. It was looking pretty grim. But I recalled an old urban tale that says if a drive is exposed to a sudden temperature change, it might start working long enough to get what you need off of it.

Feeling a little like MacGyver, I pulled the drive out of the computer and put it in our office mini refridgerator until it was good and cold. What did I have to lose at this point? It was a last resort.

Sure enough… the drive started working for a short period after and I was able to recover all of the data!

Of course this will not work every time because there are many different causes for a failing drive. There is no substitute to having a back up system in place. There are many back up options out there. It is just a matter of finding the right one for you.