Then how do companise go around "un-sticking" the head?

Stiction usally happens with impropper shutdowns or turn offs ie the heads then dont get enough time to park & then the head touches the platter. The head then sticks to the platter stopping the spindle from rotating. When the platters rotate an air bearing is created that lifts the heads just a fraction above the platter. If you bend the arm then the head could gouge the platter. Also when depoping the head off the platter sometimes the head will partially or completely pull off & could also damage the platter.
The gap between the head & platter is so small that dust contaminents on the platter smaller than the width of a hair could possibly cause damage hense the cleanroom. As I am still learning & practicing & dont have a cleanroom I used a desk fan blowing accross horizontilally the drive ie the idea is that the airflow is constant enough to not let the contaminants to settle. But I will buy a cleanroom as soon as I can afford one.
As you can see from my previous post I did this DIY route & managed to get the data off so it is possible even if it is a slim chance.

Loki

thanks Loki, seriously thanks.

how long did you get after popping the head off?

also is this is a different story if its a dual platter drive?

Companies with good techs have experience in knowing techniques on how to actually do it. They know what to expect from doing it as they have done it many times. Their hands are used to the movements of the different parts that need to be moved in order to do it correctly.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c_MTX6-gYg

This is a great example of how DIY can ruin the drive i one bad move.

The heads leaved the ARM and stay stuck on the surface....

I managed to get all the data off within an hour & then binned the drive but there is no time limit, it will fail when it fails.
Normally a platter will have 2 heads as they write to the top & bottom side but some do have just 1 head on a platter.
Any head or multiple heads could suffer from stiction which does make it harder to work on.

Loki

I don't know whether to give it a go. I'm no paying for services as we'll be talking hundreds.

Does this hard drive have 2 heads per platter?

I'll ask my friend and see if he wants to go ahead with this.

Thats funny & they still turned it on

Just looked on that PDF and it's got 3 heads. So thats 2 on platter and 1 on the other and it could be any of these 3?

Not necessarily

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Then ballpark me how much. The Drive top has been opened quickly to notice the head parked in the middle.

Dont foget the freezer trick you said you tried as this could also affect the recovery.

Loki

And that ^^^

Lot's of money in R&D.

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Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

This might be the worse thing in the history of DIY HDD, But what about gently nudging the platters by rotating the disk spindle slightly to un-stick the heads without touching them, eg manually move the spindle(with the screws on the top that connect the platters to the motor) a fraction of a centermeter to un-stick the heads then power up the drive to let it operate normally then grab and run your data.

Because the motor cannot un-stick the heads because once stopped, it does not have the force to move the platters from the stuck head on spin up, with a gentle nudge from a human hand, not touching the platters at all, just the spindle bearing, it would be enough to un-sick it for the drive to spin up.

Again, not a good idea but just a theory for everyone to laugh about...

Watched the video, probably not a good idea to force the head off the platter with a tool, just nudge it, might take some time. and it depends on how hard its stuck. If it wont come of at all, like the video showed, then leave it alone and take it to a proper place.

Another crazy idear is to use the gloved hands and nudge the platter on its edge for more force and smaller movement... LOL....

Just watched the video.
Was the mark from the screwdrive or something the head pulled off?

I've told my friend the situation and i'll see if he gets back to me with doing it DIY.

We'll see how "Stuck" it is after creating as clean a box as possible. Is this myth about running the shower for a little while true? We're thinking about just thoroughly cleaning a box with ammonia based window cleaner.

On the video, the biggest mistake was the screwdriver of course, but if you use only rotation, the head can be remains on the platter anyway.
It depends a lot of things...
WD more likely what can leave the head on the platter sides. (yes even more heads on one move)
Hitachi is a little bit better but depends on model!
Some have extreme slimm a fine flexible suspension springs around the head, and this can be bent, damaged, and even broke...

Janos

Pointless discussion.

If headstack is not already damaged there are "good chances" about destroying it by fiddling with improper tooling, environment and know how (and nobody is going to explain what to do) so if media will be damaged during the... process it will kill every headset at first pass on the surface later and eventually kill the surface too.

There are things that - assuming you have to pay the risk - can be attempted, other not.

Assuming the entire thread purpose is "genuine" , there's little to ask and much to do. If you want detailed instructions , this is the wrongest place where ask . If you want to be encouraged to do it yourself, again this is the wrongest place. If you want detailed plans about tooling and want know how transferred, this is the wrongest place at all.

Finally, what do you want us to comment about youtube videos and average joe suggestions like slap the drives, open the drives, fiddle with heads , open it in the bathroom after leaving shower open (to shower the air ?) and things like that ?
It's like the "Jackass" movies - it has been done, but there's only one Bam Margera / Ryan Dunn , if you do it the outcome *MAYBE* will be different ( )
If a SAFE / SAFER / TOTALLY SAFE way is needed, I see no alternative to pro tooling and intervention.

Would be more honest and less time loosing to say once for all : I have - let's say - £200 budget taxes paid and all inclusive : would someone like to TRY recovering data / safely move heads back to ramp / diagnose / do the complete job / just make the drive more or less work then I will try with my own gear and K-H ?

Specialistic jobs are not cattle market, a compromise can be found but sometimes there's little to say and even less to do , if you are not able to do it yourself.

In a nutshell, it'a "your data your choice" scenario, where nobody want to be held responsible about potential (highly potential) data destruction due to suggestions neither can give away detailed info neither in public nor in private (we all do this for a living).

I got a feeling this will all end in tears. I've seen this hundreds of times, client does not want to pay much, they try themselves, make a mess of things, then they realise data in critical to them and end up paying twice as much to get it back. I'm sure this forum was not made for threads like this.

See the following threads:

seagate-7200-possible-pcb-failure-t19650-20.html

hitachi-hts545032b9a300-320gb-sata-hdd-t19595.html#p132081

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