Trick to getting screws out of 2.5 inch HDDs?

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  • Start date Start date
Kevin McMurtrie said:
You need a more expensive Torx driver set. The cheap ones don't fit
well. You end up stripping screws with a driver that's one size off
because the correct one doesn't fit.

I hope you know that the hard drive will never work again. Dust will
cause head crashes, or even launch the heads off the arms. A 10K RPM
drive with glass platters might be rather dangerous to mess with too.
Click to expand...

He appears to be talking about the logic card screws.
 
Rod Speed said:
He appears to be talking about the logic card screws.
Click to expand...

Oh, those come out easily with wire cutters. They're not nearly as
tight as the chassis screws.
 
Sounds like you're not using the exactly correct sized driver - other
than clumsiness/inexperience, that's the usual reason people chew up
small screw heads.
If you're 100% sure you're using the correct driver, you can free up
the screw by placing the unit on a solid surface, inserting the driver
into the head, & giving it a bit of a tap with a soft-headed hammer.
It'll also likely work well to fix up the chewed up heads.
Click to expand...

OK Thanks I will try it and yes, clearly they were the logic board screws,
not the ones you have to pay someone numerous thousand to get into a "clean
room" to get off
 
I did try this but in practice it just burred the screw over even more: But
this was an experiment. The drive was dead. I had bought it (for vritually
nothing) as a dropped drive, hoping to salvage the circuit baord but when I
tested it, it wouldnt even show up on the Hitachi DFT tool so the board was
almost definitely completely dead.

Not the worst sort of loss imaginable. Still looking for a 30 Gig
travelstar which has been destroyed through dropping and in practice, the
seller had probably been ripped off by his technician who had possibly
dropped the drive adn then told HIM that it would be unrelaible, sold him a
new one and stolen his probaably working drive. There may be some slight
possiblity of getting the original one instead of the completely dead one
the technician gave him back
 
news.rcn.com said:
I did try this but in practice it just burred the screw over even more: But
this was an experiment. The drive was dead. I had bought it (for vritually
nothing) as a dropped drive, hoping to salvage the circuit baord but when I
tested it, it wouldnt even show up on the Hitachi DFT tool so the board was
almost definitely completely dead.
Click to expand...
---------------------
I once used a little trick on a similar project. Might work here. It's
a little hard to describe without a sketch, but try this.

Set the drive solidly on your workbench, with the troublesome screwhead
facing upward. Look straight down at the screwhead. Using a fine,
sharp, square-edge file, and working from the top of the screwhead
straight down toward the drive case, file away the left 25% of the screw
head. Now file away the right 25% of the screw head. If you have
worked carefully, you now have two parallel vertical "walls", one on
each side of the socket in the center of the screwhead.

Now, working from the top (not the side), and using a pair of pliers
with jaws that are solid, parallel, and very square-ended, you can can
grip the walls, and turn the screw. Getting this right can be tricky,
and you'll probably get only one chance. If you squeeze the pliers too
tight, you'll squash the remainder of the screw head. If you don't
squeeze tight enough, you'll round off the head again as you try to turn
it. If you grip it properly but twist it at an angle, the pliers will
slip off, taking a chunk of screw head metal with them. In each case,
there is insufficient metal left to reshape and try again. At this
point, your best bet may be to drill off the remainder of the screw head.

Bill
 
Bill Jeffrey said:
---------------------
I once used a little trick on a similar project. Might work here. It's
a little hard to describe without a sketch, but try this.

Set the drive solidly on your workbench, with the troublesome screwhead
facing upward. Look straight down at the screwhead. Using a fine,
sharp, square-edge file, and working from the top of the screwhead
straight down toward the drive case, file away the left 25% of the screw
head. Now file away the right 25% of the screw head. If you have
worked carefully, you now have two parallel vertical "walls", one on
each side of the socket in the center of the screwhead.

Now, working from the top (not the side), and using a pair of pliers
with jaws that are solid, parallel, and very square-ended, you can can
grip the walls, and turn the screw. Getting this right can be tricky,
and you'll probably get only one chance. If you squeeze the pliers too
tight, you'll squash the remainder of the screw head. If you don't
squeeze tight enough, you'll round off the head again as you try to turn
it. If you grip it properly but twist it at an angle, the pliers will
slip off, taking a chunk of screw head metal with them. In each case,
there is insufficient metal left to reshape and try again. At this
point, your best bet may be to drill off the remainder of the screw head.

Bill
Click to expand...

Small angled wired cutters have always worked for me. Put on point
inside the hole and the other point outside. Squeeze until the metal
crushes then turn it. The screw head comes off one way or another :)
 
Small angled wired cutters have always worked for me. Put on point
inside the hole and the other point outside. Squeeze until the metal
crushes then turn it. The screw head comes off one way or another :)
Click to expand...

My real problem is that I cant get enough purchase on the side of the screw
to do either of these without potentially damaging the thin green pcb! The
problem with these Torx screws in HDDs seems to be that they are incredibly
tight in the first place and are designed not to come out easily or at all
for the reasons mentioned.

The best bet may be to file off the head and hope it doesn't leave too much
flange which would prevent the pcb from coming off.
 
news.rcn.com said:
My real problem is that I cant get enough purchase on the side of the
screw to do either of these without potentially damaging the thin
green pcb! The problem with these Torx screws in HDDs seems to be
that they are incredibly tight in the first place and are designed
not to come out easily or at all for the reasons mentioned.

The best bet may be to file off the head and hope it doesn't leave
too much flange which would prevent the pcb from coming off.
Click to expand...

I'd use a proper extractor myself, drill into the
head of the screw and use a real extractor.
 
news.rcn.com said:
clearly they were the logic board screws,
Click to expand...

Some Torx bits are too round on their ends, and grinding them flat can
improve their grip considerably. But if the head is chewed up, try
cutting a slot in it with a Dremel cutoff wheel. A soldering iron
should be able to melt any thread lock sealer sufficiently and can
sometimes help if the threads are simply seized, but sometimes you have
to apply penetrating oil (Liquid Wrench or, better, Kroil -- apply a
drop but do not spray) or tap gently (only if you the drive is designed
to park its heads off its platters and you can support the drive
solidly on the other side).
 
Lionel said:
No way. Hard disks nearly always use Torx screws, & many people refer
to them as 'star' screws, because that's what they look like. I've
never yet seen a hard disk with Philips Head screws on the covers.
Click to expand...


I have two in front of me with Phillips screws to retain the top
cover:

Samsung SV0644A/DLL
Fujitsu MPA3035AT


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
There are better ways to do that: There are special paints for
securing screws. A bit like sealing wax. Would be cheaper, since no
special screw was required.
Click to expand...


You are probably thinking of anaerobic thread locking
compounds, such as LocTite brand. Pretty nifty stuff.
 
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