My kid just dropped my external hard drive...

**Detale** · 11-26-2007, 02:16 AM

I recently saw a tutorial on how to Open a HDD somewhere It didn't look that hard Clocker I will see if I can find it again and Post it here

**clocker** · 11-26-2007, 02:50 AM

When I still worked at the shop and had access to lots of *spare* (i.e., junk) parts, my co-worker Eric and I played with HDDs quite a bit.

First, we tried just to open them and "window" the cover so the internals were visible.

We replaced circuit boards.

We transplanted platters/read heads.

None of them ever did more than spin again.

Even just opening and resealing a working drive resulted in failure.

In case you didn't know, I am typically rather fearless when it comes to fucking with hardware...hardly anything escapes at least disassembly and usually modification.
I've even successfully resoldered caps on motherboards and stripped heatspreaders off CPUs.

Hard drives though...I think there's magic involved, some serious juju.
They are the Devil's work and better left alone.

**100%** · 11-26-2007, 09:30 AM

Thanks for tips, I go for clockers mentality. The files are really that important.
as it turns out we have accident insurance, we have to pay 739$ max...

**Detale** · 11-26-2007, 09:53 AM

Clocker you know you're my go to guy so I withdraw my statement and I still can't find that link I would love to get your take on it though.

@ 100% Good for you I hope it works out for you, Good luck and please keep us updated

**lynx** · 11-26-2007, 10:25 AM

Noobs.

I remember the days when disk drives weren't even sealed units. It was often a case of "Insert a removable disk, then wait about 2 minutes while it spins-up, brushes any dust off the platters and loads the heads".

Head crashes were a common occurrence, but rarely did they make the disk unusable. Just as well when you consider that a 25MB (yes, megabytes) disk cost a few hundred.

**optimus_prime** · 11-26-2007, 01:47 PM

yeah but than you had like 20 meters between two data tracks

**clocker** · 11-26-2007, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by lynx

Noobs.

I remember the days when disk drives weren't even sealed units. It was often a case of "Insert a removable disk, then wait about 2 minutes while it spins-up, brushes any dust off the platters and loads the heads".

Head crashes were a common occurrence, but rarely did they make the disk unusable. Just as well when you consider that a 25MB (yes, megabytes) disk cost a few hundred.

These would be "the good old days", I suppose.

Oddly, "they just don't make 'em like they used to".