Theoretical Computer question... Damaging the hard drive with cold

[SaltwaterServr]

Long, long ago on the TV show Airwolf, they had an episode where the "froze" out programming within the helicopter's system. Unrealistic to say the least, but it's a concept I need to explore.

Let's say you dipped a CPU into liquid nitrogen, let it freeze, then let it come back to room temp.

What effect would that have on the operating system and/or circuitry of the CPU? Would you end up with a gob of unintelligible mess of an operating system, or would it stay intact for the most part?

I know, weird question.

 

[Jenky]

Long, long ago on the TV show Airwolf, they had an episode where the "froze" out programming within the helicopter's system. Unrealistic to say the least, but it's a concept I need to explore.

Let's say you dipped a CPU into liquid nitrogen, let it freeze, then let it come back to room temp.

What effect would that have on the operating system and/or circuitry of the CPU? Would you end up with a gob of unintelligible mess of an operating system, or would it stay intact for the most part?

I know, weird question.

People overclock their processors to extreme limits using LN2.
People also freeze "dead" hard drives to pull data off of them. <- I've tried this at work. There is a real chance you can get some data back.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Long, long ago on the TV show Airwolf, they had an episode where the "froze" out programming within the helicopter's system. Unrealistic to say the least, but it's a concept I need to explore.

Let's say you dipped a CPU into liquid nitrogen, let it freeze, then let it come back to room temp.

What effect would that have on the operating system and/or circuitry of the CPU? Would you end up with a gob of unintelligible mess of an operating system, or would it stay intact for the most part?

I know, weird question.

They have built liquid nitrogen cooling systems for CPUs before. Now physically dipping the CPU in actually liquid nitrogen might damage the CPU itself. I've seen an entire PC run without issue completely submerged in mineral oil though.

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[YosemiteSam]

People overclock their processors to extreme limits using LN2.
People also freeze "dead" hard drives to pull data off of them. <- I've tried this at work. There is a real chance you can get some data back.

While this can work, the problem is that as soon as the drive warms back up it fails again usually. Now, if you could keep it cold, you would have a better chance of recovering the data.

Now if the drive isn't completely failed, you could probably quickly pull some data off of it by freezing it.

 

[Jenky]

While this can work, the problem is that as soon as the drive warms back up it fails again usually. Now, if you could keep it cold, you would have a better chance of recovering the data.

Now if the drive isn't completely failed, you could probably quickly pull some data off of it by freezing it.

Yup, as soon as it warms back up it starts to fail. I try to pull off as much data as possible, if any.

 

[WarC]

Long, long ago on the TV show Airwolf, they had an episode where the "froze" out programming within the helicopter's system. Unrealistic to say the least, but it's a concept I need to explore.

Let's say you dipped a CPU into liquid nitrogen, let it freeze, then let it come back to room temp.

What effect would that have on the operating system and/or circuitry of the CPU? Would you end up with a gob of unintelligible mess of an operating system, or would it stay intact for the most part?

I know, weird question.

Freezing a harddrive is actually a mcgyver-type trick I've seen used and have tried to bring dead harddrives back to life long enough to transfer data over to another drive.

It would only harm the drive if moisture/condensation gets inside of it. If it's well sealed before its frozen it is good to go.

EDIT: this post is redunant. That'll teach me. Ought to read the replies first.

 

[Kangaroo]

People overclock their processors to extreme limits using LN2.
People also freeze "dead" hard drives to pull data off of them. <- I've tried this at work. There is a real chance you can get some data back.

Done the freeze hard drive and sometimes it works done it for years when I use to do workstation support

 

[LeonDixson]

I think he was asking what if you took a perfectly good hard drive with data on it and froze it. Would it still work after it thawed back out?

 

[SaltwaterServr]

I think he was asking what if you took a perfectly good hard drive with data on it and froze it. Would it still work after it thawed back out?

Yep. Looks like the answer is yes, and its a way to retrieve data off of skeeroooed hard drives as well.

Thanks for the info folks!