"In the '70s TV show 'Happy Days,' the character Fonzie was so cool that he could make a dead jukebox play just by giving it a thump in the right spot. If Fonzie were working on computers today, he'd probably use some of these tricks for getting a reluctant hard drive to come across with its data.
"When a previously working disk drive suddenly won't come up at boot time, one approach is to try freezing it. I don't know whether the cold realigns the components or the condensation that forms when you remove the drive from the icebox has a positive effect, but this technique actually works. It revived a laptop drive of mine that quit suddenly this morning..."
