Western Digital My Passport portable HDD (1TB) not working

[bobdemper]

Hi,

I registered to this forum just because of the problem i'm having with my Western Digital Passport.

I accidentally dropped it a few months ago (while it was spinning) and from that moment on it made a beeping sound.

Watching a few diy tutorials on youtube I decided to open the disk and reset the head to it's startup position.
This however didn't solve te problem and the clicking/beeping noise continues to be there when connecting the disk.

The data on the disk is not important but I'd love to have it back (some photofolder that I didn't properly back-up).
It's not important enough to pay the 1000 euros a professional HDD center would ask.

The problem seems to be in the gears that move the arm (the white gears), because if you listen very closely you can hear them stuttering.
I was thinking of buying a similar HD and transfer the drive to the new one so i can read my data with the functioning arm.
Of course that's a very risky operation but if it's possible I'd like to take the gamble.

Here is a video of the sound the HDD makes when starting up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfhOiX1 ... 2gAc8pNOWQ
Here is a video of the inside of the HDD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31dEUBy ... e=youtu.be

I'd love to hear your opinion on this.

Thanks in advance!

[helpless]

Dropped while spinning = game over IMHO, but it's not a pro's opinion.

[lcoughey]

Before you did anything, this project was likely recoverable by a pro at a reasonable price. But, now that you have opened it up in a dusty environment (I could see dust on the platter) and then powered the drive on with dust and bad heads, the odds have gone down, but I can assure you the price has also gone up.

I guess you might want to contact the person who did the YouTube video and see if they are going to cover the cost difference caused by their bad advice.

[MindMergepk]

Before you did anything, this project was likely recoverable by a pro at a reasonable price. But, now that you have opened it up in a dusty environment (I could see dust on the platter) and then powered the drive on with dust and bad heads, the odds have gone down, but I can assure you the price has also gone up.

I guess you might want to contact the person who did the YouTube video and see if they are going to cover the cost difference caused by their bad advice.

agreed

[data-medics]

Hi,
The problem seems to be in the gears that move the arm (the white gears), because if you listen very closely you can hear them stuttering.
I was thinking of buying a similar HD and transfer the drive to the new one so i can read my data with the functioning arm.
Of course that's a very risky operation but if it's possible I'd like to take the gamble.

1. Hard drives don't have "gears" anywhere in them.
2. Clicking heads isn't a mechanical issue, rather it's the repeated attempts to read the service area (special code on the platters necessary for the drive to operate and translate data). When it fails to read it re-calibrates (clicks) and tries again.
3. Removing the platters ("disks") is 100% guaranteed to make the data forever un-recoverable. No gamble at all, it's a certainty.

[data-medics]

We really aren't trying to be mean (as many allude to on this forum) we are just giving you the facts. These are lessons all too many people learn after they tried to do their own data recovery and made the situation hopeless.

My advice, if you think that someday you might want to pay for recovery just put the drive in storage and mark what it is. Otherwise, just toss it in the trash.

[maki]

Watching a few diy tutorials on youtube I decided to open the disk and reset the head to it's startup position.
This however didn't solve te problem and the clicking/beeping noise continues to be there when connecting the disk.

YMMD

[quinatchie]

Sorry to bring up an old post, but I have a similar issue as the OP and am a bit confused. I also found this clip on youtube (not mine, I know better than to open the drive) of what it looks like internally when its making this same beeping noise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twwTiUbFBJM

My first thought was that the heads are gone, but from the clip you can see the heads don't even make it onto the platter, so how would the drive know the platter can't be read? You can also see the armature is able to freely move onto the platter when he pushes it, so its not mechanically stuck in the parked position.

Does anyone have any thoughts? I know its far from a DIY job but I'm curious to know what the issue is likely to be based on the symptoms.

[data-medics]

There are different possibilities, but in any event you won't likely repair it on your own. Many models actually perform a read/write head resistance test before they even spin up, so they know if the heads have failed and won't actually release them.

In the case of that video the only reason the heads weren't being released was because the top cover is off. There's a tiny nylon mechanism that is actuated by the airflow within the HDA and then releases the heads. It's intended to prevent the heads from releasing if the platters haven't made it up to full speed. So with the top cover off, the airflow isn't reaching the necessary velocity to release it.

Trust me, you need professional recovery. 99 out of 100 DIY attempts fail and most lead to an unrecoverable drive in the end. Whereas these drives are usually fully recovered by a pro lab.

[quinatchie]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not looking to do it myself I just want to understand properly.

The beeps and vibration sound and feel so consistent with the amount of movement shown in that clip though. So you think a resistance test is indicating failed heads would explain why the heads wouldn't be released? Is there any other potential cause? The drive wasn't dropped or knocked so I don't know how the heads would have been damaged.

[data-medics]

Sometimes heads just electronically fail. It's a tiny electromagnet made in China, and it's very sensitive. There are a lot of reasons they click, but with these My Passports it's usually always failed heads one way or another. Sometimes the parking ramp is a little misshapen and one of the heads misses the slot it's supposed to park in, causing it to twist and jam off the edge of the platter. I've seen cases where the magnet actually broke in half and flipped over on itself blocking the actuator from moving (actually saw this twice). There's also cases where bad sectors in the service area cause the drive to click.

Don't be too sure about the timing of the clicking. That actuator is really fast, it can move the entire distance of the platter and back several times in less time than it takes to blink.

Only other thing you might try yourself is to clean the contacts where the PBC connects with the preamp using a simple pencil eraser. Sometimes corrosion buildup can cause it to have a faulty connection. It doesn't happen too often with My Passports, but does happen occasionally.

[quinatchie]

Ok I'll give that a try. Thanks for your help.