head replacement

[zio_mangrovia]

Someone had lucky in the replacement of heads of 3.5 external disk with standard tools?

[pclab]

Which drive? Which tools?

[fzabkar]

Search for Scott Moulton's videos on YouTube.

[thatdellguy]

Skill is much more preferred than luck.

Skill is asking the correct questions and including the correct information for someone to give you the best possible answer.

Luck is blindly asking a question without giving any details as to what you want. Most professionals will usually pass your question up because your not giving enough detail in your question and thus are probably a waste of time since you wouldn't know what to do with given information. Maybe you should pass on this recovery if your not comfortable with head transplants. I wouldn't want to have my data recovered by someone from the school of YouTube.

[zio_mangrovia]

Search for Scott Moulton's videos on YouTube.

and cleaning room !?!??!

[fzabkar]

DIY Clean Chamber:
http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?t=1003&p=4393

BTW, here are professional tools:
http://www.hddsurgery.com/

Head replacement tools (Head Combs):
http://www.hddsurgery.com/tools/categories/1

See the Manuals, Animations, and Video Guides at the bottom of the page.

[thatdellguy]

Luck: Duct tape, box fan, and a furnace filter...

[zio_mangrovia]

Which drive? Which tools?

wd wd10ears

[zio_mangrovia]

DIY Clean Chamber:
http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?t=1003&p=4393

BTW, here are professional tools:
http://www.hddsurgery.com/

Head replacement tools (Head Combs):
http://www.hddsurgery.com/tools/categories/1

See the Manuals, Animations, and Video Guides at the bottom of the page.

have you goy success with these head replacements?

[fzabkar]

I'm not a data recovery professional. The last time I did a head stack replacement was more than 20 years ago on completely different HDD technology. I would have thought that the videos would have convinced you that a DIY head swap by a complete novice would be most unlikely to succeed.

[LarrySabo]

Luck: Duct tape, box fan, and a furnace filter...

You can mock and ridicule my DIY clean chamber to your heart's content, thatdellguy. It works and that's all that counts. I've competed half a dozen or so successful head swaps in the past week using this clean chamber and the drives almost always have fewer slow sectors after the swap than before and none of them had bad sectors they didn't have before the swap. I need more drives to practice on, especially ones with higher platter density, but they are hard to come by.

http://tinypic.com/m/i60dnc/3 WD7500BPVT-60HXZT1 SN WD-11A6123497
http://tinypic.com/m/i603r8/3 TOSHIBA MK5056GSY SN 30IFT1HVT
http://tinypic.com/m/i603r4/3 TOSHIBA MK2546GSX SN 18SMF3JTS
http://tinypic.com/m/i6ciew/3 SEAGATE ST380013AS SN 3JV5HPWB
http://tinypic.com/m/i6cifn/3 TOSHIBA MK2565GSX SN 1172D0L9B

I have a lot to learn of course and I’m not gloating. Just saying that it is more a matter of practice and going through a lot of scrap drives than luck. I would also say that the head combs are also really important. The DIY aluminized foil type Scott Moulton recommends doesn't work that well for me, but the SD head combs set (http://goo.gl/hI0r6e) and the ramp set from Dolphin Data Labs (http://goo.gl/FC1zV1) do work very well.

[LarrySabo]

I apologize, thatdellguy. I mistakenly thought you were referring to and mocking my project. I now realize you were referring to exactly what you wrote, e.g. http://goo.gl/AKoKqI

Sorry!

[thatdellguy]

No prob, I guess my post timing made it look like that. That's a creative clean room. Probably the best self made one I've ever seen.

[HaQue]

Larry, really well thought out job there. do you get any problems from signif. other for having it in the kitchen? I am holed up on dining room table while I add shelving, workbenches, add power and lighting and data cabling in my Lab, and the complaints roll in.
one thing I would add is a led based lamp on a bendy snaky thing that can be aimed inside/around things, and a large magnifying glass to do the same. also, if possible probably as a secondary preference after the cabinet is as you want it, some kind of camera/video setup that can take good quality pics/video that is amiable on any job at different angles.

could you explain a little what the compressor stage is?

[sathyan]

@ LarrySabo

an excellent DIY project

[LarrySabo]

Thanks to you both. I put it on the kitchen table just to photograph it. Normally, it resides on a cart I can wheel around and position beside my work desk in the basement, where I have all my test gear and PC. That area is too dark and messy for photography, so I brought it upstairs to the brightest spot I could find for the photos. The ($14 CAD) lamp I installed provides lots of diffuse light and I use my regular camera (Lumix FZ35) which has excellent macro and video capabilities. However, I have been considering buying a used ($50-$75 CAD) Canon Powershot Elph and installing it beneath the aluminum plate for videos. My desk has a two-tube fluorescent desk lamp on an articulated swivel mount that I can use to add more light, but I've never found it necessary.

The compressor is simply a Lexan box with the hollowed filter end-plate mounted at the bottom and a removable plate at the top (to permit filter changes). It is bolted to the top of a 120mm 115v fan which is bolted to the top of the tote. The bottom fan pulls the air on the clean side of the filter and the top fan pushes it from the dirty side. My original article has photos of the individual components that make some of that clearer.

It is adequate, I believe, but I'm still contemplating changes. The 4" centrifugal fan I recently ordered and returned does not provide sufficient pressure, I have found, so I may get a 6" version which is substantially more powerful. I may instead get another axial fan of the same model as currently mounted at the top, and make a sandwich of the two to increase the pressure--one beneath the top plate and one above it. I am also considering replacing the filter altogether with a 12"x16" Fellowes filter that has the same specs (http://goo.gl/a31wfH) and costs $35-$50 CAD, mounted to the back in an attachable 6" deep enclosure. However, I need to start earning some money doing DR before investing much/any more into this project.

[HaQue]

just wondering if there was too much air being drawn through, would it start to maybe draw in particles from outside through the flap and arm work holes? maybe it is pretty close to being ok now.

[LarrySabo]

The flap with its arm holes flips up out of the way, as does the section it's attached to, to provide unobstructed access to the work area. It's clearer in the following shot.

The air from enters from behind the perforated screen and blows from back to front, so there is nothing to create a vacuum that would draw air into the chamber from the front.

That said, I used a "draft detector" (http://goo.gl/iVC2dP) which generates continuous visible smoke, to check airflow patterns and found that more air exits from the outer edges of the open screen open area than from its centre area, and even reverses and flows into the plenum at the top. I suspect it has something to do with the 120mm fan, whose airflow pattern is like a hollow cone. Fortunately, the air flows outward at a good pace in the lower half, central area, which is where the work is being performed.

Perhaps mounting another, inverted 120mm fan with fixed blades beneath the current one would counter the vortex and result in a more evenly distributed airflow pattern. Maybe even power it so it rotates in the reverse direction would add to the pressure and counter the vortex of the first. If I opt for a second top fan sandwiched with the one there now, I'll remove the bottom fan entirely, since there is a (minor) risk that it could potentially contribute particles to the clean area.

[HaQue]

Ahh I misinterpreted the fans pulling and pushing and now I see you have described it well in an earlier post
I don't know why I would have thought the airflow was going from work area to filter and out the top as that is illogical anyway. Doh. Now I understand the compressor stage better
Nice testing with smoke. Really thorough. Really interesting to follow your progress

[lcoughey]

Why through the back and not just up through the top? Also, could you not mount two filters and fans to run in parallel?