Why did this work?

From: Ken (user_at_domain.invalid)
Date: 10/23/04 

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 00:17:41 GMT

        I recently struggled with recovering data from a HD that would not run
CHKDSK from another Win XP boot drive. After having tried many things,
I placed the drive into the freezer for a couple of hours and found that
I could copy some of the data I wished to recover and store it on the
master HD while it was attached as a slave drive. Once the drive warmed
up, I encountered more difficulty in readying additional data.

        Encouraged by the data I had been able to recover, I placed the HD back
in the freezer. When I took it out, and this time while insulated by a
plastic bag so that it did not short the electronics, I packed it in ice
and attached it as a slave drive again. This kept the drive cold
longer, and I was able to recover even more data and for a longer period
than the first effort.

        To make a long story short, I was able to retrieve 700 MB of data and I
deemed the effort a success. My question is: Why was data able to be
read when the HD was cold and not once it warmed up? Some articles I
have read seemed to attribute this to mechanical reasons related to the
application of cold. I was wondering if it was not more related to the
effect that the cold temperature might have on the semiconductors. That
is it might reduce the internal resistance enough to cause a signal to
be detected where one would not be detected if warm.

        Any comments???

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