Please help me with a DIY Hard Drive Repair

[stocklera1]

Hey All -

Before I launch into this, I just want to preface my comment by offering that data recovery services are too expensive for me, and that I'm willing to risk losing my data in favor of this low-cost approach to repairing my HD.

I have a 500gb Toshiba SATA HD in my Macbook that recently failed after something fell onto my laptop. I took it to a local repair shop and they could not fix it. Their report recommended sending it to a laboratory (too expensive for me) and came with the following comments: The hard drive will not "spin up". The disk will not spin for reading purposes. Motor or circuit board damage prevents disk from receiving power and being read.

What could the possible problems be which prevent power from reaching the disk? A PCB issue? Could I attempt a replacement of the PCB if this is the problem?

I have very little knowledge about hard drives, so any reply with detailed information and photographs would be immensely helpful towards a successful repair. Even a referral to a website that has tutorials on this sort of thing would be unbelievably helpful. The current obstacle I have is that I am not quite sure what sort of "motor or circuit board" damage exists, and how I would remedy it. Please understand that I am a layman when it comes to this sort of stuff, but I am very willing to take every precaution and learn a lot about the process before I dive right in, so that I know what I am doing.

I've been told the problem is most likely one of the following: stuck spindle, stuck heads, damaged heads, or a damaged pcb. How would I identify which one of these is the culprit, considering I have no idea what any of these items look like? If I can diagnose one of these particular items as the issue, how would I go about repairing it?

Thanks so much for reading through this, and hopefully I will be able to learn a bit about how to go through with this.

You guys rock!

[jermy]

I've been told the problem is most likely one of the following: stuck spindle, stuck heads, damaged heads, or a damaged pcb.

if the problem is stuck spindle, stuck heads or damaged heads, it's beyond DIY, it requires a clean room to take care of this kind of problems, and it's highly recommended not to power on the drive, it can cause further damage.
if it's a PCB problem, you can get one for around 50$

[jerovsek]

Hello stocklera1,

could you write full model
Don't DIY.
Without proper knowledge and tools no data back

[chinopk]

since you already decided to risk or almost loose your data by choosing DIY approach.

a good start would be first examine the hard drive from out side, can you see any visible damage on pcb or back side because something fell on laptop how heavy you did't mentioned.

if you see no damage, connect hard disk to a desktop system and record the sound if it is spinning at all....

after more information about the current status of drive someone can assist you further, either you should attempt DIY or not.

[lcoughey]

Now that I know that the root cause was impact, we can rule out damaged PCB, for sure. If you are 100% sure that you will not be seeking professional assistance, open the drive and hope the heads are off the parking ramp. If so, move them back to the parking ramp, without touching or breathing on the platter. Be sure to fully inspect the heads and confirm that all sliders are on them. Put the cover on and hope that the heads still work and that there is not damage to the platters.

If the drive detects, be prepared to get a full sector-by-sector clone with ddrescue...the drive may only power on once and if you try to access the file system, the thrashing of the heads may be just enough to kill any chance of saving a single file.

Remember, one piece of dust, a drop of sweat or a finger print is enough to completely crash your drive. There is no going back after the damage is done.

[Izualim]

I believe the best approach will be to send it to a laboratory for diagnosis, most of labs gives diagnosis for free, once you are told the issue you can see if you are able or not to deal with the issue, and it will be helpful if you say what exactly happened to it, what did fell on the laptop, height, etc.

[lcoughey]

I believe the best approach will be to send it to a laboratory for diagnosis, most of labs gives diagnosis for free, once you are told the issue you can see if you are able or not to deal with the issue, and it will be helpful if you say what exactly happened to it, what did fell on the laptop, height, etc.

It is for this very reason that I require my clients to pre-approve our minimum price. If you aren't even planning to accept my minimum price quote, there is not point in our assessing it.