Question Drive Heads Not Moving

[goldensun87]

So, initially, I thought my drive's PCB was not working, so I ordered a replacement board and sent my bad board to the company so they could do the firmware transfer. Finally got my new and bad board back yesterday. The platters spin, the drive shows as 'My Passport' on the taskbar, but it does not appear as an accessible drive. So, I opened up the drive, and this time I noticed the top head is damaged. So, I took that head out and put in a good set of heads from an identical model (yes, I backed up the data on that drive to a new drive I recently bought before taking ts head out.). Still cannot access the drive. So, I plugged it in again with the cover off, and noticed that the heads are not moving onto the platters. Why are the heads not moving? Did I do something wrong while installing the healthy heads?

And people, please refrain from telling me that I have ruined the drive by opening the cover. I have done it before to unstick heads from platters on an older drive, and I was able to recover most of my files that time. Just tell me if there is anything I can do to get the heads to read the drive.

 

[InvalidError]

If the actuator arm is not moving but the controller is sending voltage to attempt to move it, then the coil or the flat-flex between the coil and PCB might be busted.

As for unsticking HDDs, I had an old computer I hadn't booted in 5+ years and it would not even spin up - I could hear weird bleeping noises coming from it which I initially mistook for the PC-speaker doing weird beeps. I got it unstuck by gently tapping the HDD's side with a screwdriver.

 

[goldensun87]

The black part which connects the heads to the PCB...does that need to be clicked in or something? I was afraid to push it too hard. Can you describe which parts are the coil and the flat-flex? Or should I post a pic so you can identify it? All I have with me right now is a 3DS camera, so the pic would not be very good...

Edit: Because before I took the damaged head out of the drive, the drive was still making clicking noises. Which means the heads were still flying over the platters, right? I may have missed an important step when installing the new heads, but I'm not sure what atm...

 

[InvalidError]

Flat-Flex is basically a sort of cable or flexible PCB which is often used for extremely thin cables or foldable circuits designed to get crammed into tight, irregularly shaped spaces. It is also often used to pass through/under air-tight seals. Flex is usually brown/orange, transparent unless there is a shield either on top or embedded in the tape with a bunch of traces on it, sometimes even components.

There should also have been some form of connector between the head assembly and the rest of the HDD. That would usually be Flex too. If the head rack was not connected properly, the drive's firmware might get hung on that.

 

[goldensun87]

So, the flex is the tape-like thing connecting the heads to the PCB. That piece should be ok, I was very careful in handling the part.

But, I may have found the problem. My drive has 3 platters, which means there should be 6 heads, right? And, each head has to fly over/under the platters, right? Well, the top and middle heads appear to be placed right, but the bottom 2 heads appear to both be on the top ramp for the bottom platter. Because when I try to manually slide the heads onto the platters, they get stuck at the edge and do not slide on. I'm guessing the system realizes all the heads are not in their proper position, and is not moving the heads to prevent damage?

In the video I watched, the person used a special clamp to ensure the heads would be placed into the patient drive properly. I do not have that tool, and I knew I could remove the part without damaging it. I'm guessing that tool is not gonna be cheap, but perhaps I can use something thin enough to get the bottom head into its proper position?

 

[InvalidError]

Drives are not designed to protect themselves from abnormal damage. If a head breaks off and starts scraping the platter, the drive will continue going until the firmware encounters some other abnormal condition that makes it lock up or abort because it simply does not know what else to do. Here, it probably tries to unpark heads, heads hit the platter edge, the controller fails to see any tracking signals from the head, does not know what to do and simply sends the heads back into parked position.

As for the heads being loaded on the wrong loading ramps, that's obviously not going to help your case and it may have damaged the head.

 

[J12105]

So, initially, I thought my drive's PCB was not working, so I ordered a replacement board and sent my bad board to the company so they could do the firmware transfer. Finally got my new and bad board back yesterday. The platters spin, the drive shows as 'My Passport' on the taskbar, but it does not appear as an accessible drive. So, I opened up the drive, and this time I noticed the top head is damaged. So, I took that head out and put in a good set of heads from an identical model (yes, I backed up the data on that drive to a new drive I recently bought before taking ts head out.). Still cannot access the drive. So, I plugged it in again with the cover off, and noticed that the heads are not moving onto the platters. Why are the heads not moving? Did I do something wrong while installing the healthy heads?

And people, please refrain from telling me that I have ruined the drive by opening the cover. I have done it before to unstick heads from platters on an older drive, and I was able to recover most of my files that time. Just tell me if there is anything I can do to get the heads to read the drive.

So, initially, I thought my drive's PCB was not working, so I ordered a replacement board and sent my bad board to the company so they could do the firmware transfer. Finally got my new and bad board back yesterday. The platters spin, the drive shows as 'My Passport' on the taskbar, but it does not appear as an accessible drive. So, I opened up the drive, and this time I noticed the top head is damaged. So, I took that head out and put in a good set of heads from an identical model (yes, I backed up the data on that drive to a new drive I recently bought before taking ts head out.). Still cannot access the drive. So, I plugged it in again with the cover off, and noticed that the heads are not moving onto the platters. Why are the heads not moving? Did I do something wrong while installing the healthy heads?

And people, please refrain from telling me that I have ruined the drive by opening the cover. I have done it before to unstick heads from platters on an older drive, and I was able to recover most of my files that time. Just tell me if there is anything I can do to get the heads to read the drive.

Hello, did you ever figure out why the heads aren't moving. I am having the same issue after installing heads that were working in an identical hard drive. They are not moving onto the platter.

 

[J12105]

Hello, did you ever figure out why the heads aren't moving. I am having the same issue after installing heads that were working in an identical hard drive. They are not moving onto the platter.

 

[J12105]

So, initially, I thought my drive's PCB was not working, so I ordered a replacement board and sent my bad board to the company so they could do the firmware transfer. Finally got my new and bad board back yesterday. The platters spin, the drive shows as 'My Passport' on the taskbar, but it does not appear as an accessible drive. So, I opened up the drive, and this time I noticed the top head is damaged. So, I took that head out and put in a good set of heads from an identical model (yes, I backed up the data on that drive to a new drive I recently bought before taking ts head out.). Still cannot access the drive. So, I plugged it in again with the cover off, and noticed that the heads are not moving onto the platters. Why are the heads not moving? Did I do something wrong while installing the healthy heads?

And people, please refrain from telling me that I have ruined the drive by opening the cover. I have done it before to unstick heads from platters on an older drive, and I was able to recover most of my files that time. Just tell me if there is anything I can do to get the heads to read the drive.

Hello, did you ever figure out why the heads aren't moving. I am having the same issue after installing heads that were working in an identical hard drive. They are not moving onto the platter.

 

[USAFRet]

Hello, did you ever figure out why the heads aren't moving. I am having the same issue after installing heads that were working in an identical hard drive. They are not moving onto the platter.

Please start a new thread for your particular situation.

But if you've opened it up to actually see the heads not moving...it is far too late.