Here's the conclusion of the data rescue operation on the iBook of a friend, whose HD all of a sudden stopped working... a recent switcher, Francis hadn't made any backup...
I plug his iBook using target mode, but impossible to mount the faulty HD. With a friend, we try some basic operations such as single user mode to try and transfer data via Terminal and another trick (fsck, mkdir /Volumes/Dead-Drive, mount), yet nothing works.
Let's mention the fact the scene takes place in Montréal. It's -10°C outside, so I put the iBook in the snow on my balcony for a quarter of an hour. And when I retry target mode... it's unbelievable, data are visible and accessible. Slowly first, but then faster and faster, I copy them at "normal" speed as if I was using any good working HD! The whole operation outside, the iBook in the snow while copying data.
After half an hour - an hour, we'd rescued the essential data. A great success! And a challenge taken - I could almost start my business as a data rescue specialist, taking advantage of the rigorous weather conditions in Canada :-P
Though unorthodox, this technique is definitely worth trying when everything else proved useless.
