I did exactly that and it worked well for the 120BG drive I tried it on. I attached a USB PATA adapter onto it, then a power supply that came with the adapter, put a ziploc bag around that, sucked the air out, put tape around the opening where the wires came out. Closed the freezer door with the wires sticking out and waited an hour before hooking the drive up. No point in doing it while the drive is out of the freezer since they heat up fast. Best to do it where the cold air comes out and turn the temp down as far as it will go too.
In my case, I think it was the electronics heating up that was the problem, not a mechanical issue, but it worked.