[mythtv-users] failing hard drive - advice on recovering specific recordings - mythlink perhaps

[Raymond Wagner]

On 6/28/2014 3:16 PM, jacek burghardt wrote:
> I have a failing HDD that will mount and work for a little while.  It
> has 3TB of recordings on it. the problem is that bad sectors are not
> the  issue. He can copy what he can untill hard drive stops working then
> lets it cool off and copy more files or keep it in frozen state giving
> longer time to copy files. We have no idea of brand and model it could
> be bad circuit board.

And again, you're just as likely to cause fatal damage by putting it in 
the freezer as you are giving it a bit more life.  You're witnessing a 
severe selection bias.  People who did it successfully are going to 
attribute the freezer as the magical fix, and report as such.  People 
who failed are going to figure their drive was dead anyway, and report 
nothing.

Cooling a drive while it is being used is fine.  Freezing one ahead of 
time will accomplish nothing that simply cooling it wouldn't, and adds 
all kinds of unnecessary risks.  It's just a bad idea.