Hey guys,

Id need some help diagnosing the fault/s of my Samsung ST1000LM024 HDD.
It stopped working after a fall some time ago. When plugged in the light turns on and it beeps but it wasn't recognised by the computer.
After watching some youtube I came to the conclusion the head must be stuck on the platter, I carefully followed some instructional videos and opened the hard drive and this was true. I unstuck the head carefully and put it back together.

I have attached a photo of after the fix so you can see inside and after i closed it again.

Here is a link to a video after I tried it out again:

https://youtu.be/ifRXYbi4tyw

The computer beeped recognising something was connected but the drive didn't come up in explorer or disk management (PC) and you can hear the drive making clicking sounds.

I'd like to fix this myself if possible so if anyone can tell me whats wrong or the next steps to fixing it id be very grateful.

Thanks!

Here is the fault:





I'm sorry to say that it can't be fixed by you and now it's going to be challenging to be fixed by someone who knows what's he's doing.

With all respect, you've taken all the wrong steps here.
If data is valuable, you might have some chance if you send it to a very good pro, but expect to pay big bucks.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

Sadly, another daily “YouTube DIY disaster”

I don’t blame the poor guys (like the OP) who believe this garbage and follow it, if you’re not an expert then it sounds plausible, right?

I blame the assholes who put this crap on YouTube and don’t give a **** about peoples data.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Did you see the VOID sticker on the drive. Its already been to a DR company, so presumably the OP thought it too expensive and decided to do it himself. Hopefully his data is not important.

_________________
HDD, SSD, Flash and RAID Data Recovery
Founder of The Data Recovery Professionals Group

Hi.
Having dropped the HDD may have caused serious problems in the dishes and heads.
Removing the heads attached to the plates may have caused additional damage to the plates and / or heads.
This can be a difficult case to recover, so if you do not have the right tools the possibilities are very low.
At a minimum you have to obtar to get a donor, and change the heads, but you have to have the right tools, experience and get the right donor.
Once I have done this process and it is successful, you may find that the firmware fails to recover the information even if you have the experience and the right tools.

I think it's a difficult case.

A greeting and good luck.

_________________
Is Earth an intelligent being?

Anyone else find that the >90% success rate of these drives with stuck heads (without needing donor heads) goes down drastically (almost always needing donor heads) after clients try it first?

Their attempt to save money costs them more and the amount of data they get back is usually less.

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

Thanks for the responses,

Unfortunately though the cost was prohibitive the main reason I was not able to take this to a professional was that I am ex military and the data on this drive is somewhat sensitive. As no one I contacted was willing to work on this with me present I was not willing to leave the data in someone else's hands. Also although I want it back it is not critical to me. This left me feeling my only option was to try it myself.

Having watched a number of people on youtube do this successfully I was led to believe its worth the risk, it seemed unlikely they were all just making fake videos and trolling us.

I carefully removed the screws in a dust free environment. gently moved the head while turning the plater with a screwdriver, also gently, counter clockwise. The head became unstuck immediately.

I then carefully reassembled the drive.

Do you really think I have done more damage to it or is it likely that the damage caused by the initial fall was more than just getting the head stuck?

It was plugged in when it dropped.

Thoughts on my next steps?

Thanks again for the assistance.

Did you carefully remove and inspect the heads under a microscope for damage? If the heads were damaged and you powered it on, it is very bad.

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

If you need to go to surgery, do you refuse anesthetics in case you say something wrong?

_________________
HddSurgery - Professional Data Recovery Tools

Well,
You Made a Mistake And Underestimated The Work ,And Saw The Video Of That English Guy How Says It This Way " Head Stuuuuck " ,Kindly Remember Once Head Is Stuck And You Unstuck It ,You Are Suppose To Inspect It After Removing It Under The Microscope , So No Laminar , No Experience , No Procedure .I Will Show You What It Takes To Solve Such a Issue ,Do Checkout What i Say In This Video Time And Again



Link To Video -> https://youtu.be/17XRilKm9FI

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

hi pauliej19

i can see the DR lab stcker on the lid.

did they(DR company)open the hard drive before you open?

what is the 1st time symptoms. same symptoms like beep?? i mean before you opened.

Hi guys,

Thanks Amarbir[CDR-Labs] for showing me what it takes to do this job, I can see i was misled by youtube. That said I took the similar care to you in opening the device and removing the head from the platter (the same way).

Dananjaya - this was a new hard drive and i was the first to open it. Before opening it the power light flashed and it made beeping noises.

Where did the VOID sticker come from?

_________________
HDD, SSD, Flash and RAID Data Recovery
Founder of The Data Recovery Professionals Group

Those drive come inside the lacie enclosure and have a guaranty sticker on them attache to the frame

hi pauliej19

now your hard drive has head problem. sometimes platter dust. so if your data important you have to contact DR PROFFESIONAL. at this stage you can not correct by your self.

Thank you everyone,

your feedback has been most eye opening.

Can anyone recommend me a specialist in Melbourne, Australia?

Cheers