How to Restore a Dead External Hard Drive

Dead External H ard Drive? If you can no longer read data on an external hard drive, all of your files may not be lost. The surprising secret to get access to your data (at least for the time necessary to extract it) is temperature. An old external hard drive that no longer can be read can often be resurrected by freezing it. Put it in the freezer overnight inside a Ziploc bag, then plug it back in in the morning. This may get the drive to work for a few hours or longer so you can access your data. Repeat as necessary, but only use this method as a back up plan. Backing up your files is a very important habit to keep up with.