cleaning dirty GMR/AMR Heads

[quasimodo]

Hello,

Can someone point me in the right direction as what to use in order to clean GMR and AMR Heads?
Alcohol ?cleaning fluids?

I did alot of research in the past few days on this, but i am still uncertain.
Any help is deeply apreciated

[N.C.]

Hello,

Cleaning the head is almost never needed.
Anyway, i have done a lot of times, and about 70% with success.

If the head crashed, and the surface is damaged, useless to clean the crashed head.
But if you try another head on the drive, and gets dirty caused by the surface, sometimes, the head cleaning can helps.

Use 99% isopropyl alcohol, and one soft material...

Regards,
Janos

[hddguy]

Soft material???

[N.C.]

Sorry, i mean materia exactly.
Like tissue, or other cleaning tools....
But need to be really soft.

Janos

[pcrecovery]

Use DRY ice.

[quasimodo]

Janos,

I read this somewhere, but was not sure. Thanks for confirming this

[quasimodo]

pcrecovery,

will this not cause any problems with corrosion or temperatur?
I read, that heads somethimes can become to hot and will then temporary not read. I guess this would cool them down

[craig6928]

Use DRY ice.

your be destroying the head total using that

[pcrecovery]

I have seen them. I use terminology "dry ice" vaguely. But at the same time, I am quite serious.
I can send you video of it if you like to see it. The smallest units I know about cost about $10,000 and state in writing they are for this usage, and even have a special setting for clean heads.

[craig6928]

I have seen them. I use terminology "dry ice" vaguely. But at the same time, I am quite serious.
I can send you video of it if you like to see it. The smallest units I know about cost about $10,000 and state in writing they are for this usage, and even have a special setting for clean heads.

please tell us more thanks

[hddguy]

I have seen them. I use terminology "dry ice" vaguely. But at the same time, I am quite serious.
I can send you video of it if you like to see it. The smallest units I know about cost about $10,000 and state in writing they are for this usage, and even have a special setting for clean heads.

I would also like to see this.

[pcrecovery]

I can send you a video clip of several actually cleaning racks, holding MHA, and other hard drive components...it actually cleans SUBMICRON particles and residues and much more...you have to regulate temperatures and volumetric flow rates...thus the controls...at any rate, I've been thinking of getting one for quite some time.

[BlackST]

This equipment seems (according to the description) a cleaning system like the ones used in wafer (silicon chip) fabrication. It's too much for a small lab, and submicron capability I think is excessive. Maybe during GMR fabrication the final step will be the cleaning process, as these components are fabricated just like wafers, plus micro machining. The cleaning process is to flush away every residue resulting from micromachining. In my opinion, simple chemical non-aggressive and residue-free cleaning could be sufficient, in any case a donor head or a recovered drive is not going to last more than the recovery time.
Any suggestion is HIGHLY welcome.

[pcrecovery]

I always try to decide whether or not a tool will actually pay for itself. You can clean the platters and basically all internal components, not to mention other items in the cleanroom. I thought of many uses for it, but think it would take some time to really pay for itself. The larger units are no doubt a prerequisite in manufacturing, but the small benchtop unit is quite affordable and has many uses. 8 seconds to clean a head slider and head assembly seems quite nice. they small unit is now only 8k

[BlackST]

Has anyone used ultrasound ? And in case, which cleaning fluid? Results? Eventually pm me. Thanks.

[Steve]

I haven't used ultrasound or ultrasonic, but when I recovered drives
that were in the floods from hurricane Katrina , I used Distilled water.
and it worked good to clean all the mud and grime and allow me to
recover everything

[BlackST]

0ther ?

[pcrecovery]

I've never tried water on a head...idea never crossed my mind actually. I would have thought pure IPA or one of 3's products that are made for this...DI H2O would be readily available and if distilled works, I'm sure DI would be better. It's in most of the cleaning fluids anyway. Still, you have to admit that blasting away with a gun that leaves no residue and removes just about anything is pretty cool.

[BlackST]

Yes but what about fingerprints and contamination?

[scratchy]

Personally, I would not use DI as the pH of this is usually mildly acidic (pH 6.4 - 6.. the effect of the acid on the GMR is unknown, so I wouldn't risk it.

Distilled water, will probably still have some traces of contaminants in it (metals, CaCl, etc)..

I use Analytical grade IP Alcohol and cleanroom grade paper to clean dirty heads and have not had a problem.

<itch>