[GOPJ]

If you cannot even see your hard drive then try putting it in the freezer for a hour first (it might work) and immediately attempt the above.

What???

[TChad]

What???

It's not a joke. I have had it work on a few drives.

[rockrr]

Inside a conventional (but not Solid State Drives or thumbdrives!) is a motorized platter and a tiny arm with a read/record head on it that moves back and forth reading the contents of the platter.

Sometimes when the drives get old or damaged the platter quits spinning or the little arm gets stuck. When you place it in the freezer sometimes it temporarily unsticks the parts and allows the computer to read the contents of the disk.

It’s a “hail Mary” move but does work on occasion.

[daniel1212]

"If you cannot even see your [mechanical] hard drive then try putting it in the freezer for a hour first (it might work) and immediately attempt the above.

What???"

Data recovery and some others tend to disparage this, and it should be a last ditch effort if you do not want to spend the money for professional Data recovery, but others recommend it and attest to it working, and IIRC it worked for me once years ago.

https://www.thetechmentor.com/posts/put-your-hard-drive-in-the-freezer-to-recover-data/

https://www.quora.com/How-effective-is-putting-a-hard-drive-in-the-freezer

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/put-my-dead-hard-drive-in-the-freezer.361942/

https://lifehacker.com/save-a-failed-hard-drive-in-your-freezer-redux-5515337