I'm currently in the business of recovering data from a damaged---and dying---hard-drive (check this question for background info). The drive was dropped while the system was running; and while foolishly I was trying to run testdisk on it, I started hearing---what I assume is---the click of death.Now I have read in several places about the freezer trick (e.g. on AskDifferent, on Unix SE, on AskUbuntu). The crux of it is as follows (but do read the full instructions!): Place the damaged hard drive inside of a ziploc freezer bag, so that no moisture gets in. (Use two or even three bags, and note that the bags do NOT need to be isotherm.)Place the wrapped hard drive in the freezerLeave the hard drive in the freezer for at least 12 hours Then connect the drive to the computer and start copying dataAt some point, the hard drive will fail again. When it does, redo the procedure until all data is copied or the drive dies.(As per Harddrive in the freezer ever work for you? on SuperUser, two alternative-medicine remedies to try before freezing are: (1) Place the hard drive on a smooth surface. Grab the ends and physically spin the whole unit around, just spinning the unit sharply along the axis of the blades and (2) In situations where the head has crashed, you can temporarily get it up and running by turning the drive upsidedown. Keep the drive upsidedown while you back up your files.)Question: Is freezing a legitimate strategy to rescue data from a dying hard-drive? Or is this simply a fancy way to definitively brick your disk? And if this is legit, should one attempt it before trying ddrescue, after trying ddrescue, or should I combine the freezer trick with ddrescue (and an associated log file)? 
Recovering data from a damaged hard-drive: the freezer trick
hard disk;data recovery