[SOLVED] Repairing a broken hard drive (glue in the sockets)

[Noki0100]

Hi All,

My dad seems to have spilled glue onto this HDD, fusing the sockets in and probably breaking contact (it won't spin up anymore). I've scraped away as best as I can but want to try dissolving it. What can I use, I think it's a type of superglue, it cracks of in chunks and is not at all rubbery? I have white spirit, would that damage the plastic casing or risk seeping inside the case?

https://imgur.com/a/QEVzl9z

View: https://imgur.com/a/QEVzl9z


Any recomendations on cleaning it up or what solutions I could try?

Is it just broken beyond repair?

Thanks,
Noki

 

[drea.drechsler]

Hi All,

My dad seems to have spilled glue onto this HDD, fusing the sockets in and probably breaking contact (it won't spin up anymore). I've scraped away as best as I can but want to try dissolving it. What can I use, I think it's a type of superglue, it cracks of in chunks and is not at all rubbery? I have white spirit, would that damage the plastic casing or risk seeping inside the case?

https://imgur.com/a/QEVzl9z

View: https://imgur.com/a/QEVzl9z


Any recomendations on cleaning it up or what solutions I could try?

Is it just broken beyond repair?

Thanks,
Noki

By white spirit I assume you mean some sort of denatured alcohol based paint or lacquer thinner. I doubt it will do much to attack the glue.

If not worried about saving the cables I'd try cutting away the connectors. Use a very sharp X-Acto knife and work slowly and carefully at it, carving away bits and pieces to get to the interior. Pick away pieces you cut with tweezers or a very small pair of needle nose pliers and a machinist's scribe.

Another thing is to try weakening the superglue (assuming you mean cyanoacrylate) with acetone. It can also attack certain plastic parts on the drive so you have to be careful.

 

[fzabkar]

I've seen this sort of goo in another thread in another forum. In that particular case there was serious oxidisation on the PCB. I would unscrew the PCB and examine the other side.

 

[Noki0100]

Yeah I removed it and cleaning it with alcohol. The system boots and functions aside from accessing the drive.

I've managed to clean it a little more, but still not even a wiggle. Might not be fixable.

 

[fzabkar]

This is that other thread:

https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28352