[Coco] OT: drive recovery

[Mike Pepe]

Arthur Flexser wrote:
> Marty comments...
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 17:29:02 -0700
> From: martygoodman <martygoodman at sbcglobal.net>
> To: Arthur Flexser <flexser at fiu.edu>
> Subject: Re: ever hear of this drive recovery trick?
> 
> It IS odd that no explanation of MECHANISM as to why freezing should do 
> anything good for a stuck drive is provided by the author of this tale, or 
> by the references he alludes to (or perhaps the writer of the tale fails to 
> tell us what his references say on the subject, tho).
> 
> I cannot for the life of me figure how freezing can have any good effect Or 
> why, if it does, it would make data harder to recover later by other means. 
> I don't buy the stuff about "condensation":  The drive is supposed to be 
> VERY hermetically sealed.
> 
> If the drive failes due to a bad controller board, that's something an end 
> user who has some abilty to tinker should be easily able to fix:  Get that 
> EXACT SAME make and model and size and vintage drive, and swap out the 
> controller board.  I've done this on occasion, and on the models I've tried 
> it with it turned out to be rather quick and easy (tho one must have a good 
> set of tools, including often a good set of torx and/or hex drivers, and 
> perhaps of the security sort... all of which I have in stock here.
> 
> But if the problem is a bad motor, that's 'way beyond the scope of even a 
> relatively accomplished tinkerer, for as I understand it "clean rooms" are 
> required when you upen up a drive to the platters, and they may NOT make it 
> easy to pop a platter out and put it in another opened drive.  Never had 
> occasion to try that.
> 
> ---marty
> 

Hi Marty!

Not to be pedantic, but hard drives aren't hermetically sealed (airtight)-

They have holes blocked off with filters to equalize the air pressure 
inside the case. If not, when you took them on an airplane for example, 
the case would balloon out!

I'm not sure if moisture can make it through the filter- my guess is 
probably not- but by design, they're not definitely not sealed.

-Mike