How to Swap Hard Disk Drive Platters
Friday, October 2, 2009
, Posted by Admin at 12:51 AM
This is an article regarding swapping hard drive platters. This is not a procedure for the technically inept or faint hearted. The following carries no guarantees, and defiantly voids and nullifies any existing warranty.
Steps :
Steps :
- Know that this is only a last resort. You have tried everything else, your data is not extremely important, and/or your cash flow restricts the use of a professional service.
- Set up a clean work environment. You can not make a super clean environment at home but use some common sense, and do the best you can. Keep air flow to a minimum.
- Assemble and layout your tools.
- Don powder-free latex gloves.
- Ground yourself! If you don't know what is, or how to do it, ask google.
- Remove the cover of your dead drive. If the cover doesn’t just lift off, look for more screws! There are screws under labels.
- Once the cover is off, inspect the platters. If they are scratched, scorched, warped, or other wise damaged, stop you are done!
- Set the cover back on - if the platters are physically damaged chances are you will not be able to recover any data. You can still try if you like.
- Purchase a new HDD with the same model number and firmware version.
- Test the new HDD. Make sure you can read and write data to and from it.
- Remove the cover from your donor HDD.
- Remove the platters from the donor HDD. This is your chance to learn how they are assembled, if you slip and damage parts you can get a new donor. NOTE: if you are dealing with multiple platters they cannot be removed without the proper equipment. You need a platter removal tool. The next steps are only if you are dealing with a single platter.
- Remove the platter from your dead HDD.
- Reassemble the donor drive with dead HDD’s platters inside (make sure all the platters are aligned in the same way towards each other as they were in the old drive).
- Mount the donor drive.
- Quickly copy your data. You might only get one or two chances to read from the HDD. It might make some horrible noises.
- Unmount the HDD and discard it. Continued use of the HDD is ill-advised.
- Before going for platter removal, try freezing the HDD (in an airtight container) and attempting to create a disk image using a tool like DD_Rescue (http://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/ddrescue.html). Sometimes, freezing the HDD will contract bearings enough to get a last read out of the HDD.
- To remove the platters you might have to remove the head assembly.
- Use the right tools!
- This procedure is not for logically erased data. This procedure is for physically inoperable drives with intact data.
- When swapping the platters be very careful with the head! Make sure the head is parked before you attempt to remove the platters.
- Do your homework. Look at photos of the internals of a hard disk drive before you open one up.
- HDD = hard disk drive.
- This will void any existing warranty.
- In most cases, this will also void your ENTIRE computers warranty, read the warranty very carefully
- Hard Drives are assembled in hermetically-sealed clean rooms, free of any dust. A single speck of foreign material introduced onto a platter will destroy the drive most of the time. If this does happen, try a can of air and spray it off, but do not wipe or use chemicals.
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