[Coco] Drive freezing / data reovery (WAS: Re: Need to know if I'm in safe waters here)

[Richard]

<snip>
> To sum up:  Freezing a drive can sometimes, temporarily, work around
> some kinds of otherwise fatal hard drive failures (stuck mechanical
> parts, possibly overheating electronic components (though in the latter
> case, maybe a heat sink / fan, or refrigerant spray would be a better
> approach)), and give you one last chance to extract your data.  Plan
> ahead about how to triage your data recovery, so you get the most
> important stuff first.  You may not have much time, because whatever it
> was that was causing the problem will almost certainly get worse again,
> probably soon.  Use this method only after you have built your hard
> drive's (and data's) casket and ordered the flowers for its funeral, and
> only if you can't detect the drive in the PC's BIOS, or the drive
> manufacturer's diagnostic utility says there's a problem with the
> spindle motor or a stuck head assembly.  Finally, without knowing all
> the facts, I have strong doubts that Briza's problem would be addressed
> by freezing.  First download the drive manufacturer's diagnostic
> utility, and see what it says, if you haven't already.  There are lots
> of other things you can do before making a drive-sickle.

Freezing the drive is a one shot deal most of the time. So get all you can the 
first time around. That has been my experience, and it concurs with the 
instructions/advice I recieved on the topic.