Data Recovery Myths Part 2

The “Freeze it”, “Heat it”, and “Firmware” Myth

The consequences of the freeze it myth are very disastrous although it is interesting and makes some sense. It is necessary to calibrate the read/write mechanism during manufacturing of hard drives. It is done so that the heads of hard drive can get correct position over the surface. The data will be written on the correct tracks without any problem by doing so.

In some models of hard drives, all parameters in the ROM memory located in the logic board are record by some manufacturers. It is also recorded in some part of ROM and EPROM or some flash memory inside hard drives. It shows that why hard drives can not come back when we replace the burned logic board with similar one by using same firmware version. There might be something wrong on the inside. There is also servo surface recording which is done during manufacturing process. This surface recording helps the heads to position correctly. Mostly magnetic recording of factory is replaced with some related surface material and heads start moving again.

There might happen that you feel too much temperature in your hard drive, place it in the freezer and then connect it again with computer and you see that it is still working but it will be only for few minutes. It is enough time for you to save your information before hard drive stops working. The interiors get rearranged when we freeze hard drives and everything goes to its original position. The materials go back to their original position due to retraction and low temperature which helped the read heads to find their tracks. But you might be thinking that why hard drive stop forever?

The magnetic surface of the hard drive is highly degraded and there might come a point when there will be no effect of freeze/heat on it. The result is that there will be very little chances of recovering data. There is clean air inside the hard drive, a filter which prevent impurities and dehumidifier sachet.

The “Clean Bathroom” Myth

It is possible for you to make clean room in the bathroom by opening hot water and filling it with steam. The air would be totally clean and you will be able to open the hard drive without any damage. This myth is well elaborated but its consequences are unpredictable for data. It is the same case when sun comes very clearly after rain because dust has become suspension due to raindrops. The hard drives are resistant to dust and humidity and they need to be opened in only class 100 clean room means totally clean rooms.

You can open the hard drives to touch some parts, poke and nudge it by turning bathroom heater to maximum and turning it off and waiting for small drops so that air gets clean. Although it is a good idea but result is not very good. The hard disk parts are manipulated by using sophisticated equipments in the clean rooms. It is done to save data as things may become worse. There might be something wrong happen with open hard drives and by not having proper tools to deal with it.