HARD DRIVE HEAD & PLATTER SWAP INFORMATION
Hard Drive Head Swap Replacement Information
Clicking or Grinding Sounding hard drives may indicate an internal read write head Failure
What should i Know before breaking the seals and attempting to replace the read write heads of a hard disk drive
HEAD SWAP & PLATTER SWAP INFORMATION
Static Electricity
Parts
Clean Room
Steady Hands
Initiation
Removing Platters
Balancing
HARD DRIVE REPAIR
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Do it yourself hard drive repair & the risks
Please: Evaluate this site Before attempting any form of self data recovery or hard drive repair
What is the problem?
Does the hard drive spin?
If so does it click?
Does the armature kick out?
Do the hard drives heads vibrate to initiate?
Is there an odd smell to the drive?
If it doesn't spin do you here a slight or faint ticking sound?
Does the BIOS see the hard drive?
Does the BIOS see the hard drive as the correct model?
Are there funny characters showing on boot?
Does the operating system blue screen?
Important things you should be aware of before you do anything to a suspected failed hard drive
Static discharge will kill a hard drive when handling... especially the internal components
Dust will destroy your data... DO NOT OPEN! In my experience I see so many hard drives destroyed by helpful neighbors when the problem was not situated internal of the hard drive assembly. Just because it clicks doesn't always represent an internal failure.
Swapping the electronics runs the risk of further damage, especially if the revision number of the PCB is different.
You will have a greater success of data recovery with less risk if the original electronics is repaired.
Hard Drive Repair
& Data Recovery Information
NEED DATA RECOVERY?
Static Electricity
This could be the difference between a successful recovery and a waste of time and money when the matching hard drive parts finally arrive
Be static aware as the internal components of a hard drive are far more sensitive to static electricity than the common PCB
Parts
Please see the hard drive parts section of this site for further information
Clean Room
A Clean room is more precautionary than critical but carries the reassurance of less or no dust particle platter contamination
Please See clean room on this website for more information
Steady Hands
You cant beat experience, doing something so delicate for the first time has so much risk associated with it rather than giving the task to a person who has done the procedure a 1000 times
Correct Drive Diagnostics
Read write heads internal of the hard drive assembly will click or sometimes behave erratically without being faulty or damaged
Common faults that can produce this outcome can be a faulty PCB or system area corruption
So it is always important to cover all other aspects of fault diagnostics prior to ordering parts or opening the hard drive cover to remove the heads
Head Swap Procedure Points to NOTE
Upon diagnosing that the read write heads have indeed failed
Make sure you are properly grounded and protected from any static risk
Have a clean environment and a can of compressed air handy for blowing off any visible contaminants
Warning Heads stick to the platter of a hard drive and each other! These need to be separated from the platter prior to removal and remain separated until transferred to the faulty hard drive you are trying to recover
Platter Cleaning - Can you clean a platter of a hard drive? from accidental fingerprints? The answer is yes you can
Its as simple as using a Q-Tip or a micro fiber cloth dry with no chemicals .. just gently rub the surface until the print is gone
Initiation
This is a process of calibration that occurs with a successful head swap has been preformed
Removing Platters
Balancing
Hard Drive Repair Service to recover your lost data
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