Hi all, I have this 320GB Deskstar IDE/PATA drive

P/N: 0A32157
MLC: BA2162

PCB sticker lines 1&2:
0A29525
BA1790_

As soon as it spins up it starts clicking (quite loudly) and never clears BSY. Any advice for a DIY diagnosis and repair? I'm not averse to some voltage/resistance measuring, soldering etc to try and pinpoint the issue before I go hunting for a PCB match, donor disk and the like.

Thanks for any help.

Billy

do your DIY options include head swap ?

is that my only realistic option? I guess that's why the companies I've trawled have all quoted upwards of £400, which I can't justify just to get normal family stuff (docs, photos etc) off it. Having accepted this, I was (still am) willing to consider a little experimentation...

Looks like youve opened it up too. Never a good idea outside of a clean environment, but since you already did was there any problems inside? If there were any visible damage internally then you might aswell give up now.

also, £400 for a knocking Hitachi which will very likely require parts and physical work is a very good price. the more you tinker with it, the more this is likely to be simply because of the additional work required to reverse anything you have done and clear any contaminants from exposure to dirty air

You spotted the displaced screw sticker

There was no visible marking on the top platter surface I could see. The heads were parked in the off-platter ramp. I didn't have it open long enough to note the full state of everything inside.

This is my own disk which I have all but written off, so anything that I get now is just bonus!

The 'clicking' happens when HDD tries to seek with no success and instead hits an internal limiter. On failing to read servo or other information it tries again and once again hits the limit stop. this repeated action causes audible clicking sounds.

In cases where heads knock this way mostly it is damaged heads, but in some rare cases it can be related to some non-mechanical failure. Also, even in cases of mechanical failure map of heads can be modified to allow partial access to some surfaces.

Without real diagnosis I will assume heads are damaged. with no obvious scratches or contamination changing of heads is a viable option, but the physical repair is just one stage, maintaining stability and the actual extraction of the files without the HDD failing again is another challenge altogether.

Realistically this is not a case for DIY and the odds are not in your favour.

I wish you luck if you decide to proceed with it though

That's all I can ask for. Thanks very much any other advice gratefully accepted!
Cheers

Does anyone have a view on any sort of compatibility (parts/donor) between the P/N 0A32157 and 0A33405 drives of the HDT725032VLAT80 model? The 0A32157 seem to be a lot trickier to get hold of than the 0A33405. I ask because they very often seem to have exactly the same PCB sticker code lines 1&2.

Thanks
Billy