At least a thank to me for the diagnose and for suggesting Pcimage otherwise you still would have been slapping the drive to 'dislodge' ... the spindle !!

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In the repair game, the customer sometimes has choices to make. In the present case it was a choice between an expensive professional data recovery, or a no-cost DIY attempt. As long as the risks and benefits are explained, then the customer can make an appropriate choice based on the value of his data. It is not up to you to decide how much his data is worth. In fact, a customer who has just lost his holiday snaps may decide that he would rather spend his DR money on a second holiday and retake the photos. In this case he has nothing to lose by attempting to break the stiction with an intelligently applied tap.

As for your accusation that I know that a DIY fix is not possible, I have linked to a thread where numerous DIY-ers have done just that. In fact I myself have gently encouraged a stubborn DeskStar back into life, on more than one occasion. It's been in storage for several years, but I might just see if it still works.

As for your hammer remark, a standard troubleshooting method for locating intermittent faults such as dry solder joints involves tap testing with an insulated stick, or the handle of a screwdriver. It is also a good way to verify the tracking ability of an optical drive, especially for automotive use.

CRT monitors and TVs sometimes develop heater-to-cathode shorts. There are several possible approaches to this problem. The first option, which is invariably declined, is to replace the picture tube. Another is to tap the CRT neck in a bid to dislodge any crud from the cathode. Of course you would do this with dexterity, as an excessively strong tap will break the tube. Still more options involve floating the filament, or blasting the CRT with high current from a CRT rejuvenator. If a customer is lucky, then intelligently applied percussive maintenance will suffice.

Still another example is the case where a CRT monitor has been dropped. Sometimes this will result in colour purity problems due to a dislodged shadow mask. The way to test for this is to smack the face of the CRT with the palm of your hand, and look for excessive wobbles in the raster.

So percussive maintenance, while it may be amusing, does have its legitimate, intelligent uses, as do bending and flexing in the case of multilayer boards, and heating and cooling in the case of thermal faults.

BTW, I'm an electrical engineer, but the major part of my career was in minicomputers. That was back in the days of bitslice CPUs and 15"x15" boards with 300 chips, much of which I repaired on site, to chip level. It was a niche market, and a good earner, especially since there was essentially no competition. Since then I've had a go at almost all kinds of electronics, not just the 3-chip throwaways that prevail today. Sorry if that appears self indulgent, but I can't allow your "TV tech" jibe to remain unanswered.

Old trick mainly used by politics and TV "opinion makers" : move attention to infinite , countless streams of general-purpose ready-made knowledge (the problem is that "average joe" is ignorant).

Quote :

As for your accusation that I know that a DIY fix is not possible, I have linked to a thread where numerous DIY-ers have done just that. In fact I myself have gently encouraged a stubborn DeskStar back into life, on more than one occasion. It's been in storage for several years, but I might just see if it still works.

Surely not hitting it : many DeathStar had glass media with surface problems like magnetic layer and coating peeling off until you can see the light through it. The problem was elsewhere for sure or it was a very mild problem. The best way to make a IBM/Hitachi FUBAR is to shock it, and usually the media damage, although INVISIBLE to naked eye and difficult to pinpoint even with microscope, kills the new headstacks instantly if swapped. It may be a flaw or... part of the design
The fact it worked one or few times doesn't mean it will work in general. Many users are not so "luck".

As for your hammer remark, a standard troubleshooting method for locating intermittent faults such as dry solder joints involves tap testing with an insulated stick, or the handle of a screwdriver. It is also a good way to verify the tracking ability of an optical drive, especially for automotive use.

Oooooooooohhhhhhh Would have never thought about that... Hitting the table when there was a turntable playing a record made the pickup jump, slapping a CD player does the same....

CRT monitors and TVs sometimes develop heater-to-cathode shorts. There are several possible approaches to this problem. The first option, which is invariably declined, is to replace the picture tube. Another is to tap the CRT neck in a bid to dislodge any crud from the cathode. Of course you would do this with dexterity, as an excessively strong tap will break the tube. Still more options involve floating the filament, or blasting the CRT with high current from a CRT rejuvenator. If a customer is lucky, then intelligently applied percussive maintenance will suffice.

My ar$e. Probably the CRTs used till the 80's, not the recent ones.
In the actual CRTs , if the filament has not broken down and then electrically welded to the cathode, the develop of debris due to activity is almost IMPOSSIBLE to dislodge mechanically but can be solved with appropriate equipment WITHOUT DAMAGE.
I am Italian, and we had an instrument maker that built world-renowned ultrasonic CRT rejuvenator (the name ? Giorgi) . I have one Giorgi CRT rejuvenator and one Muter, more Hi-Tech with fashioned adapters , that costed a lot more and has some automatic functions, but the way of operation is the same. I still like Giorgi more and usually use it while it is completely manually operated (oh yeah.. on the internet there are plenty of schematics that use only a 40W lamp etc. etc. etc. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ) and both use ULTRASONIC FREQUENCIES sent between cathode and G1 to mechanically move and turn into powder the built debris , that finally falls to the incandescent filament where is burned. A potential is applied to the anode to fix the CO2 during the process.
It's the same principle used by dentist to remove tartar : a needle that vibrate at high frequency, in this case it is the cathode that is made vibrating to shake out the dirt.
THIS IS SAFE and THERE'S SOME EXCEPTION : at least ONE brand of CRT (I know two anyway) CAN'T BE REJUVENATED AND WILL BE KILLED using ANY method (PM me for it). I have seen only THREE times, in thousands of CRTs "processed" , such shorts. One was cathode to filament and there was nothing to do (Mr. Giorgi and Mr. Muter had to give up) , the other were problems between G1/G2 and something else, solved by Muter.
I was curious, as I have always heard and adviced that the neck of the tube is the most fragile part, so I just asked a colleague that work in a major brand TV service if "tapping" the neck of the tube is used as procedure for "dislodging", he replied "YES, IF YOU WANT TO BE FIRED or if you want to pay for the new tube in case you break it, and good luck if nowadays you find it without being hijacked. Are you crazy or whatelse ?". Enough said.
I have never broken a CRT and I don't want to start now with these methods (moreover because replacement CRTs are not easily available and the price is high).
I came to this conclusion : this helluva of tapping, slapping, hammering , benting and cracking must me something of the other hemisphere
BTW : the "customer" should not tap and slap near high voltage sources without the necessary caution, otherwise - beside the eligibility for a Darwin Award, the risk can be a poetic "MI ILLUMINO D'IMMENSO" or a double uppercut : one from the TV and the other one from the wall/floor

And a question : what does CRTs and the rest have to do with Data Recovery and Repair ? It's like asking "what time is it" and you answer "Tuesday" .

About the rest, I trust you. BUT :

1) as usual the thread went completely off-topic, off-road, off-line, off-off.
2) the (Quote)

"BTW, I suggest you research BlackST's posts. Ask yourself whether he has actually helped anyone, even when the fix was an easy DIY.
If you stick around for a while, you will quickly discover that this forum is not a helpdesk. Rather, it is a fishing pond. The pros will help each other, but they won't lift a finger for you, unless it's to take your money. As for success rates, for cases of stiction that I have seen, it is more like 98% than 2%.
Good luck, and don't let anyone intimidate you."

turned out to be a boomerang. And not for us. The OP trusted the diagnose and did follow the suggestion, and had all his digital memories saved.

Finally, now you have some other info that can eventually be spread on other forums on your name partial compensation to the default on this case

And don't take everything personally. SMILE We are nasty but we don't really hate anyone - it's only that we have seen everything but the Aurora Borealis in the bathtub in the morning.

So said, it's a wonderful day good to be spent on the beach or riding... time to switch off - life's too good to be spent babysitting drives and thinking about job etc. etc. - can do it remotely

Our shop used a Koenig rejuvenator. Others used HR Diemen, whereas Americans seem to prefer Sencore. Standard practice after blasting the electron gun was to tap the CRT to dislodge any loose cathode material, otherwise you could risk damage to the video amps. The tech who taught me the procedure was in fact an Italian. Although he was 20 years my junior, I learned a great deal from him, and I am forever grateful for his patience and tutelage.

As for your comments regarding the fragility of the CRT, our boss used to scare us by wrestling a stuck yoke from the neck of the tube. He also used to delight in demonstrating his faith in a TV's protection circuitry by grabbing its live CRT anode in his fist.

As for optical drives, anything that is intended for an automotive environment needs to keep working through bumps, cornering, braking, and acceleration. I've had many CD players, for example, that would skip when you walked past them. A tap test is a mandatory procedure for such devices.

I don't know how you'd go about testing a mobile hard drive, though. In fact the concept of a mobile hard drive makes me cringe, even when it's in a laptop, but especially when it's in an iPod. Call me old school, but I believe hard drives belong in stationary appliances and nowhere else.

BTW, if I can find my Deathstar, I'll first check that it works, then I'll belt it with a hammer, and then I'll backup my data to it. Wish me luck. :-)

OT.