Hard drive freezer trick. Awesome.

[deckeda]

For some reason I remembered it the other way- warming a HD in an oven was the trick. Obviously I've never tried either.

OWC Jamie wrote:
Years ago with an old Quantum Atlas I did this - and it'd go about 20 minutes before heating up too much to work again. So I cheated - I put it in the ziploc bag, ran the scsi cable into the bag, and put it on the desk, wrapped in a gel freezer bag with more blue freezer blocks and covered it all with towels. Was able to get every bit of data off it that way

Now, what would be impressive is if you ran the SCSI cable into the freezer.

[Zoidberg]

OWC Jamie wrote:
Years ago with an old Quantum Atlas I did this - and it'd go about 20 minutes before heating up too much to work again. So I cheated - I put it in the ziploc bag, ran the scsi cable into the bag, and put it on the desk, wrapped in a gel freezer bag with more blue freezer blocks and covered it all with towels. Was able to get every bit of data off it that way

You know, Jamie, I knew this was you before I read who wrote it.

[Lux Interior]

billb wrote:
(but the data files we work with <100 mb can be several years of work)

Backups?

[OWC Jamie]

Lux Interior wrote:
[quote=billb]
(but the data files we work with <100 mb can be several years of work)

Backups?
Yes, everyone in the world is anal about backups and not losing flash drives even when they do. :-)

This data is potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One reason for NOT doing back-ups is the potential for the data being stolen.
Pirates.

[JoeH]

One reason for NOT doing back-ups is the potential for the data being stolen.

Stupidest reason I have heard yet for not doing backups. Backups should be done to the same security standards as the original data, and should not be anymore subject to theft than the originals. That includes the offsite copies, so the data and its backups do not go up in smoke together in case of fire or other disaster.

[Bill in NC]

Download and install Truecrypt.

Create a big backup file with it on an external 2.5" portable drive.

Backup to that encrypted partition, dismount when done.

Take the drive home with you every night.