Switch to full style
General discussions, chit-chat
Post a reply

Head replacement question

March 6th, 2019, 22:41

Hello everybody
I'm initiating myself on the DR field.
I have many questions, but I'll be getting the knowledge with practice, I know.

But I'm having some confusión on how to perform a succesfull Head replacement.
I read in many places that the heads can't touch each other because they get ruined, or contaminated.
They are frágil and very sensitive to almost everything (ESD, magnetism, etc).

Today I was searching to get some more tools for my lab, and came across to a video from ACE Labs.
I'm including a picture where the technician has probably 100 head stacks hanging inside his clean chamber.
I clearly see that they are touching themselves.
So I'm in doubt.
Can you guys shed some light to this very confusing issue (for me).

For the ones who'd like to watch the video, its between 5:23 to 5:30 on the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... d4ptaNdjU4


Thanks for your time
Attachments
ACE Lab heads.png
Heads hanging

Re: Head replacement question

March 7th, 2019, 3:16

Those will just be discarded head assemblies for “decoration”.

Re: Head replacement question

March 7th, 2019, 9:07

I've been told they place separators between the sliders to keep them from touching.

Re: Head replacement question

March 18th, 2019, 10:25

hi pc guard.

sometimes heads are very hard than you are thinking. sometimes they are very sensitive than you are thinking.
first of all you have to recognize what is the head. what is the head area, what is the preamp, how it works etc...
so you should read and do research and experiment.

normally heads works after touching each other. sometimes you can remove them without a head tool.but you cant load again without a head tool or other similar tool.a single head stack can be used several times. sometimes if heads won't work they can clean. most of time we have to use original head. because other heads sometimes will not matching 100%. so 1st we have to try to take data of good working heads.

good luck

Re: Head replacement question

March 23rd, 2019, 22:21

Hello Dananjaya
You have a very interesting point.
On the internet you'll find information about head replacement do's and dont's.
The one you find the most is that the heads shouldn't touch each other because they get destroyed.

But I had replaced some Toshiba heads and I was able to imaged the whole drive succesfully, even though those heads touched each other (accidentally while removing it).
In a specific case, I was using a head replacement tool, but didn't secure it very well in place, so when I extract it from the donor drive, the tool fell off, and the heads touched each other.
I used the same head replacement tool to separate them, and carefully install it on the patiente drive.
I was surprised when I saw the information been extracted !

But you may be right
This may be done with some heads. Or its a common occurrence for all brands?

Another great comment you made, was related to head cleaning.
If the reason for a head degradation is the debrie accumulated over time, cleaning the heads should be the way to go.

Let me ask you: How do you safely clean the head area?

Thanks in advanced!
Post a reply