Need advice to open(dismantle) my Seagate drive

[oliversl]

Hi,
I have a Seagate ST310212A 10GB hard disk.
Recently it stop working and start doing that sound: clock, clock,
clock.

Of course, we don't have a backup. And I buyed the same disk to try to
recover the data. First, I will exchange the electronic board to see if
I can revive the drive.

But if that does not work, I will try opening the drive and exchange
the disk platter. So, I need some advice about this Seagate drive:
- what kind of screw do they have inside? The ones that hold the
platter.
I know that it have only 1 platter and maybe T-6 Screws.
- is it easy or hard to unscrew the platter?
- any tips for doing this? ie. do it inside a plastic bag, use glows,
etc, etc.

Many thanks
Oliver

 

[J. Clarke]

Hi,
I have a Seagate ST310212A 10GB hard disk.
Recently it stop working and start doing that sound: clock, clock,
clock.

Of course, we don't have a backup. And I buyed the same disk to try to
recover the data. First, I will exchange the electronic board to see if
I can revive the drive.

But if that does not work, I will try opening the drive and exchange
the disk platter. So, I need some advice about this Seagate drive:
- what kind of screw do they have inside? The ones that hold the
platter.
I know that it have only 1 platter and maybe T-6 Screws.
- is it easy or hard to unscrew the platter?
- any tips for doing this? ie. do it inside a plastic bag, use glows,
etc, etc.

Taking the thing apart is not difficult. Putting it back together in such a
manner that it works you're not going to accomplish with hardware-store
tools. The hard part is aligning the platters so that the tracks remain
concentric with the spindle to within the limits that the feedback-control
mechanism on the head positioners can handle.

In other words, if you _need_ the data then send it out to Ontrack or some
other outfit that knows what they are doing. If you're doing this to learn
things you'll find it "interesting" in the sense of "may you live in
interesting times".

 

[Pete]

Hi,
I have a Seagate ST310212A 10GB hard disk.
Recently it stop working and start doing that sound: clock, clock,
clock.

Of course, we don't have a backup. And I buyed the same disk to try to
recover the data. First, I will exchange the electronic board to see if
I can revive the drive.

But if that does not work, I will try opening the drive and exchange
the disk platter. So, I need some advice about this Seagate drive:
- what kind of screw do they have inside? The ones that hold the
platter.
I know that it have only 1 platter and maybe T-6 Screws.
- is it easy or hard to unscrew the platter?
- any tips for doing this? ie. do it inside a plastic bag, use glows,
etc, etc.

Many thanks
Oliver

YOU MUST BE JOKEING.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

YOU MUST BE JOKEING.

Nope, people that prefer to take the platters out instead of just replacing
the defective Head stack are never joking. They wouldn't know how.

 

[Oliver Schulze]

Taking the thing apart is not difficult. Putting it back together in such a
manner that it works you're not going to accomplish with hardware-store
tools. The hard part is aligning the platters so that the tracks remain
concentric with the spindle to within the limits that the feedback-control
mechanism on the head positioners can handle.

In other words, if you _need_ the data then send it out to Ontrack or some
other outfit that knows what they are doing. If you're doing this to learn
things you'll find it "interesting" in the sense of "may you live in
interesting times".

 

[Oliver Schulze]

Hi John,
many thanks for your comments.
I didn't know that the difficult part was to put things together.
I know that some friend has done this kind of thing successfully in the
past, so I wanted to do the same thing.
I will talk to this person to see if he can do the job or maybe hire
him

Regards,
Oliver

 

[Rolf Blom]

Hi,
I have a Seagate ST310212A 10GB hard disk.
Recently it stop working and start doing that sound: clock, clock,
clock.

Of course, we don't have a backup. And I buyed the same disk to try to
recover the data. First, I will exchange the electronic board to see if
I can revive the drive.

But if that does not work, I will try opening the drive and exchange
the disk platter. So, I need some advice about this Seagate drive:
- what kind of screw do they have inside? The ones that hold the
platter.
I know that it have only 1 platter and maybe T-6 Screws.
- is it easy or hard to unscrew the platter?
- any tips for doing this? ie. do it inside a plastic bag, use glows,
etc, etc.

Many thanks
Oliver

Taking the drive apart & putting it together again successfully is not
easy, and requires a very clean environment, or the heads will crash on
the first speck of dust it encounters, destorying the surface.

Many years ago there was an issue with heads sticking to the platters,
preventing the spinup. If this is the case here, I don't know, but a way
of helping the drive in those cases was to hold the drive in hand while
powering up, and quickly rotate the drive around the spinning axis,
sometimes it was enough to get it up to speed. I'd at least try that
method before taking anything apart.

/Rolf

 

[Arno Wagner]

Taking the drive apart & putting it together again successfully is not
easy, and requires a very clean environment, or the heads will crash on
the first speck of dust it encounters, destorying the surface.

It is educational and may even work in some cases. It is not something
you should do for critical data unless you have experience, a clean
room and the right tools.

Many years ago there was an issue with heads sticking to the platters,
preventing the spinup. If this is the case here, I don't know, but a way
of helping the drive in those cases was to hold the drive in hand while
powering up, and quickly rotate the drive around the spinning axis,
sometimes it was enough to get it up to speed. I'd at least try that
method before taking anything apart.

In that specific case, puttin the drive into the freezer for some hours
(airtight plastic bag!) might also help to un-stick the heads.

Arno

 

[J. Clarke]

Taking the drive apart & putting it together again successfully is not
easy, and requires a very clean environment, or the heads will crash on
the first speck of dust it encounters, destorying the surface.

Not quite--the first speck of dust _small enough to go under the head but
large enough to hit it_--at the clearances in modern drives that's a pretty
small speck. If it's larger than that the head will usually just push it
aside. On the other hand, watch out for fingerprints--I once saw a
fingerprint rip a head right off and throw it across the room--fortunately
it didn't hit anybody.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Not quite--the first speck of dust _small enough to go under the head but
large enough to hit it_--at the clearances in modern drives that's a pretty
small speck. If it's larger than that the head will usually just push it
aside.

If the rotation speed doesn't shoot it off into the particle filter first.

On the other hand, watch out for fingerprints--I once saw a
fingerprint rip a head right off

and throw it across the room--

Must be some time ago. ;-)

 

[Oliver Schulze]

Well, we did it.
We dismantle the HD and switched the platters, but ...
we have a problem with the magnetic heads.

It was a dual head, so, putting the head on the platters
was the big problem.

I must say that this person that has done the job has a
total disregard for hard drive live

The room was not too clean, there was even wind
flowing. But, all this was ok, our problem was the magnetic heads.

So, here are my tips for dismantling a hard drive:
- be very carefully with the heads
- try to be extra carefully when moving the heads of
the platter. The head rest in the inner side of the
platters, so you need to move all the way out and the
separate the head in order to put them on the new
platter again
- remember, be carefully with the heads

Thanks for all your comments

Anyway, it was a cool experience.
Oliver

 

[J. Clarke]

Well, we did it.
We dismantle the HD and switched the platters, but ...
we have a problem with the magnetic heads.

It was a dual head, so, putting the head on the platters
was the big problem.

I must say that this person that has done the job has a
total disregard for hard drive live

The room was not too clean, there was even wind
flowing. But, all this was ok, our problem was the magnetic heads.

So, here are my tips for dismantling a hard drive:
- be very carefully with the heads
- try to be extra carefully when moving the heads of
the platter. The head rest in the inner side of the
platters, so you need to move all the way out and the
separate the head in order to put them on the new
platter again
- remember, be carefully with the heads

Thanks for all your comments

Did it actually run and allow you to recover your data?

 

[Oliver Schulze]

I could not recover any data
But, I think if we have had the correct tool for putting the head in
the platter without doing any harm, we could have been successfull.

Also, if the disk have only one head helps a lot.

 

[Odie Ferrous]

In that specific case, puttin the drive into the freezer for some hours
(airtight plastic bag!) might also help to un-stick the heads.

This drive (and nearly all in recent years) doesn't have an issue with
sticking heads - the head surface is coated with a teflon-like substance
that will resist sticking.

It's not unlikely that the motor itself has seized.

This can be remedied by opening the drive up and, once powered on,
manually turning the spindle to get the motor going. As has been said,
dust will be a problem here; if done in a "clean-ish" environment you
should be ok to get most of the data off, but don't use the drive
again. And get the cover on as soon as the drive is spinning.

Another thing about the heads is that they are so fragile it is
difficult to even touch one with a finger without knocking it out of
alignment with the arm - so if the head did in fact stick to the
platters, powering up the drive would wreck it.

Of course, the motor itself could be dead - in which case replacing the
head stack is not going to be an option.

I try to avoid opening drives - it's a nightmare.


Odie

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

I could not recover any data
But, I think if we have had the correct tool for putting the head in
the platter without doing any harm, we could have been successfull.

And if you had done the obvious instead of the impossible
to do, you might have even pulled it off.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

This drive (and nearly all in recent years) doesn't have an issue with
sticking heads - the head surface is coated with a teflon-like substance
that will resist sticking.

It's not unlikely that the motor itself has seized.

This can be remedied by opening the drive up and, once powered on,
manually turning the spindle to get the motor going. As has been said,
dust will be a problem here; if done in a "clean-ish" environment you
should be ok to get most of the data off,

If dust is a problem it dies immediately. If it doesn't die immediately then
it will likely be OK as long as it spins. The drive is the most vulnarable at
the spinup phase. When it is spinning at 7200 rpm dust will never reach the
platters and dust that was on the platters will have been catapulted off the
platters long before it reaches nominal speed, only at which time the heads
will leave the park position.

but don't use the drive again.

The partical filter should catch any loose particals.

And get the cover on as soon as the drive is spinning.

Another thing about the heads is that they are so fragile it is
difficult to even touch one with a finger without knocking it out of
alignment with the arm - so if the head did in fact stick to the
platters, powering up the drive would wreck it.

So how can you ever have a drive with stiction if "powering up the drive
would wreck it" and therefor immediately release the state of stiction.
It is called stiction (static friction) because the drive motor is unable to
get the platters into motion as a result of the head(s) sticking to the platters.

 

[modiftek]

You are about to endeavor on a monumental task. Before you began
thinking about dismantling a hard drive did you do some research as to
how those things are manufactured?

Interfering with a hard drive platter is not a wise thing to do. HDs
are manufactured in a clean-room environment and if opened and
reassembled by an end user the drive will not function. Tiny
microscopic dust particles [undetectable with the naked eyes] get on
the platters and when the drive spins-up, the platters inside will
disintegrate.

The RPM of the platters inside is so great, those tiny particles that
found themselves on the platters becomes solid and bombard the inside
of the enclosure and cause damage to the platters.

Open a hard drive at your own risk.

 

[Peter]

Interfering with a hard drive platter is not a wise thing to do. HDs

are manufactured in a clean-room environment and if opened and
reassembled by an end user the drive will not function. Tiny
microscopic dust particles [undetectable with the naked eyes] get on
the platters and when the drive spins-up, the platters inside will
disintegrate.

Wow! Disintegrate !?! To pieces, dust or just vaporize?

 

[J. Clarke]

You are about to endeavor on a monumental task. Before you began
thinking about dismantling a hard drive did you do some research as to
how those things are manufactured?

Interfering with a hard drive platter is not a wise thing to do. HDs
are manufactured in a clean-room environment and if opened and
reassembled by an end user the drive will not function. Tiny
microscopic dust particles [undetectable with the naked eyes] get on
the platters and when the drive spins-up, the platters inside will
disintegrate.

The RPM of the platters inside is so great, those tiny particles that
found themselves on the platters becomes solid and bombard the inside
of the enclosure and cause damage to the platters.

Open a hard drive at your own risk.

Bzzt. Not the problem. The problem is that the heads ride so close do the
surface that they bump into just about any particle on the disk and if it's
just the right size then it scratches the head or the surface or if it's a
little bigger and stuck down hard it cracks the head. Once the head is
damaged it acts as a cutting tool and removes the coating from the surface
of the disk. I've seen a fingerprint rip the head right off and throw it
across the room.

Nonetheless, there are enough reports of users having opened drives and then
run them successfully that the notion that opening the capsule is instant
and certain destruction is clearly in error.

Further, in no case will the platters "disintegrate". They are not that
fragile.

The RPM of the platters is not all that great, ranging from redline for a
typical Detroit ironblock engine to that of a good motorcycle, all of which
are running under vastly greater stress and in a far dirtier environment
than that that exists in any disk.

 

[CJT]

Interfering with a hard drive platter is not a wise thing to do. HDs
are manufactured in a clean-room environment and if opened and
reassembled by an end user the drive will not function. Tiny
microscopic dust particles [undetectable with the naked eyes] get on
the platters and when the drive spins-up, the platters inside will
disintegrate.

Wow! Disintegrate !?! To pieces, dust or just vaporize?

I think the poster meant "disintegrate" as in "degrade (particularly
the coating _on_ the platters) to an extent where the data on them, or
written to them, will never again be readable."