Check out this Article 200 ways to revive a hard drive:
http://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?src=search&id=r00320010108det03.htm

On Friday, March 16, 2001 10:08 AM, arhoads [SMTP:arhoads AT PACBELL DOT NET] 
wrote:
> Cody,
>
> freezing a drive is a new one to me.  I'd be concerned that moisture
> would condense inside the drive on the disk surfaces.
>
> I've pulled drives and spun them (any smooth, slick - clean - surface),
> hard & fast -- being careful not to launch the drive off a table, I'd
> recommend using the floor -- and them grab them quickly to stop the
> drive but leave the actual disk spinning inside.  I discovered this
> technique from technicians that use it as one of their non-destructive
> techniques.
>
> Steffan
>
> Cody Cauchi wrote:
> >
> >      Hi all. I am attempting to recover a hard disk for a friend. The disk
> > crashed a few days, and ... they thought they had backups ... their vendor
> > told them "no problem, we will backup the data" ... and guess what ... it
> > wasn't backed up. They had a half-$#@ system of backups and lost some
> > important data. Like MANY other out there she was relying on a Vendor, not
> > a storage professional, to backup her data. Anyway, enough with my bitching
> > ... to the point. I recall reading that in order to recover data of a hard
> > disk that will not spin up you can rap it in plastic, throw it in the
> > freezer for an hour or so, and then it should spin up when attached to your
> > machine ... for a limited amount of time allowing you to retrieve the data
> > off the hard disk. Am I correct in my presumption? Am I missing anything?
> >
> > Cody Cauchi,  Systems Programmer, ITS
> > University of Windsor
> > 401 Sunset Avenue
> > Windsor, Ontario
> > Phone - 253-3000 x4435