I've also had success with the "put drive in the freezer (!) for 30 minutes" method of hard drive revival.
:eek:
This works surprisingly well depending upon the failure. I have had two successes with this, though I left them in over-night. In addition, I had one which I left in the freezer while I was working on it. It had to come up to a stable temperature first, but I was able to recover all of the data I needed. Afterward, it was completely spent.
Supposedly stuck arms can also be freed by a sharp jolt by dropping the hard drive FLAT from a height of about two inches. I have done this only once; the drive would not spin up at all, though it was logically recognized. Spindle seizure. Worked like a charm and actually never froze up again -- though this is not typical.
