[CableNinja]

Ive recovered a few drives through the freezer trick. It took a lot though. Freezer for an hour, use until lock, freezer for two hours, then rinse and repeat until data recovered completely. Doesnt have to be overnight, just long enough to get the metal to contract, and theres a point where that change no longer happens and keeping it in the freezer is only wasting time.

On the topic of reflowing in your home oven.. **DONT**!!!!! Thats how you get metal poisoning or other non fun diseases. If you plan on reflowing, use an oven that can go to the scrap yard after, or that will be dedicated solely to reflow. Reflowing can cause vaporization of metals in the solder and the chemicals from flux, etc, and thats just not fun to eat.

[seabass-labrax]

You're absolutely right about the health risks. Additionally, a small oven can be bought online for under $/£/€50 in most countries, and there are many guides online about modifying these to have precise temperature control for delicate soldering jobs. These modifications use inexpensive (usually <€1 each) thermocouples, along with digitally controlled relays or MOSFETs to do pulse-width modulation.