The Best Freezing Hard Drive To Recover Data References. The “freezer trick” was one of the first data recovery methods to hit the mainstream, and in the late 1990s, it was a viable (but potentially dangerous) data recovery technique. Place the wrapped hard drive in the freezer leave the hard drive in.

If you're concerned your hard drive might be failing, you can check its smart. The idea is to freeze the hard drive, which will cause the platters to cool and free the disks so they can spin again. It is an extraordinary way to recover user data from hard drive.