Switching platters

[Guest]

My hard drive has decided to stop powering up, halfway through my dissertation work I am almost certain that the data on the drive is fine, it just won't spin up, so it's almost as if the power connection is faulty.

Ontrack want in the region of $500ish to repair it, which, being a student, there is now way I can afford

My idea is to open up the drive and switch the platters into a new drive - does the new drive need to be an identical model to the old one?

If anyone has attempted this before, I would like very much to hear your experiences, and if there are any how-tos online (I haven't found any so far..) it would be great if someone could post some links up,

Thanks very much

Giles

 

[Toejam31]

You're kidding, right?

It's not possible ... sorry.

Toejam31

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[svol]

In theory it can, but you will need an dust free space, a drive of the same model, and some expensive equipment.
In practice this isn't possible for a normal user, as a little piece of dust can destroy your entire drive.

My case has so many fans that it hovers above the ground .

 

[Guest]

Hmmmm well I do actually have access to a dust free workspace if I call in a favor or two And I *can* get an exact same model hard drive. What "expensive equipment" would I need exactly?

 

[HonestJhon]

some REALLY STATIC FREE tools, and a clean room...and a jumpsuit to keep all dust particles out of the workspace...

also, i think that touching the surface of the disk might cause data corruption..
another thing that might go wrong is taking it apart, and putting it together, you might accidentally drag the head across the surface, which would kill whatever data was on the drive....
this is a real sensative thing...
that is why drives are sealed, except for a breather opening that is filtered...like to a very low tolerance...
changing stuff that is inside the drive is a bad idea...too many things ca go wrong, and for the ammount of problems that can arise, you would probably be better off having a professional do it.
but being a student, that might not be very possible...
have you tried the drive in another computer?
is the drive recognized in the bios?
did the drive make any noises when it stopped working?
when you plug it into a power source only, does it make the sounds like it is normally starting up?

maybe something else is wrong. but maybe not..
i dont know...
what were you doing when it decided to stop working?
how long have you been using it?
sorry so many questions, but might help, at least me, know more about the problem, and the possible options.

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[Guest]

Okay - the drive makes no noises at all when plugged in - I have tried it on two different computers.

This is the part where I seem REALLY dumb - but it was 5 am and I was tired I turned the computer on with the drive resting on the metal drive bay with my tower on it's side. Yes, it was lazy, and yes I'm now paying the price

However, I see no scorching on the underside of the disk, which I would expect if I had shorted the power socket...

Drive was a Quantum 20GB with the underside exposed - just under 2 years old.

Drive is not recognised in BIOS - it's showing as "none".

Hope this helps

Giles

 

[HonestJhon]

wait, so the controller board was touching metal?????
if that is the case, then this is going to be much easier to POSSIBLY fix.
if you can get ahold of a drive that is EEXXAACCTTLLYY the same, and i mean exactly, (minus the fact that one is dead)
and swap controller boards...
that should fix it.
be careful, and see how the drive connects to the board, and try not to bend those semi transparent connectors that have traces on them...
if the controller board got fried, then it is FIXABLE, might not work tho, but definately more fixable than a dead motor.
also, when you are done taking the data off the drive, put the controller card back on the other drive...heh..
but it should work...because there are power controllers on the controller card, and if the board was shorted, then you might be able to fix it...so you can get your info off it!
i hope that it works.
oh yeah, you dont really need a clean room to do this...just something that is going to be very static free, and if you have access to a static free table, with wrist bands, then you should be pretty good.
if not, then put them on something anti static, and try not to handle them too much...bad for electronic components in general...but you probaly already knew that.

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-