Testing Western Digital Hard Drive Motor?

[ken]

Removed a working WD 60GB HD last year with very little use and when
recently tried to use there is No Sound from the motor starting.

Am guessing it is the contacts or pin connections. Have had it happen
before where the HD did not start and wiggled the plug and
everything was OK.

Appreciate any tips or suggestions!

Thanks

Ken

 

[[email protected]]

Removed a working WD 60GB HD last year with very little use and when
recently tried to use there is No Sound from the motor starting.

Am guessing it is the contacts or pin connections. Have had it happen
before where the HD did not start and wiggled the plug and
everything was OK.

Appreciate any tips or suggestions!

Thanks

Ken

My experience may not be very encouraging for you. When my WD1600JB
drive stopped spinning, I could also smell the release of the magic
smoke from the pc board. On inspection, I saw a crater in the epoxy
of the motor driver chip. It spins when I substitute a pc board from
another WD1600JB drive, but it does not read back any of the recorded
data. I am hoping that swapping motor driver chips will bring it back
to life, but I need to learn how to do that with the surface mounted
chips, and I need to find a donor pc board.

 

[Puckdropper]

Removed a working WD 60GB HD last year with very little use and when
recently tried to use there is No Sound from the motor starting.

Am guessing it is the contacts or pin connections. Have had it happen
before where the HD did not start and wiggled the plug and
everything was OK.

Appreciate any tips or suggestions!

Thanks

Ken

The first thing to do is unplug everything and plug it back in.
Sometimes, for whatever reason something doesn't sit right.

Next, try just power alone. You didn't say SATA (keyed) or 40-pin IDE
(not always keyed), so it's possible the cable could be backwards. That
will keep some drives from spinning up.

Puckdropper

 

[Franc Zabkar]

Removed a working WD 60GB HD last year with very little use and when
recently tried to use there is No Sound from the motor starting.

Am guessing it is the contacts or pin connections. Have had it happen
before where the HD did not start and wiggled the plug and
everything was OK.

Appreciate any tips or suggestions!

Thanks

Ken

Stiction? If so, then hit the metal casing with the handle of a
screwdriver.

See http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/stiction.html

(n.) Short for static friction, a condition in which a hard disk
drive's read/write heads become stuck to the disk’s platters with
enough strength to keep the platters from spinning, resulting in hard
drive failure. When a computer is turned off, its hard drive's
read/write heads park on the platter's landing zones. Under normal
circumstances, the heads will lift off the platter when the computer's
hard drive is activated and the platters rotate. Stiction typically
occurs when a computer has been turned off for long periods of time.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[ken]

Franc Zabkar

Thanks for the Stiction tip! "If so, then hit the metal casing with
the handle of a screwdriver."

Am guessing you are correct. This HD was only used as a backup so
never became hot and there was never any smell.

I was afraid of doing any damage so probably did not hit the case very
hard but so far hitting the metal casing with the handle of a
screwdriver has done nothing.

Did some searching and found mention of hitting a wooden table with
the stuck HD to free the heads. Am wondering if you have had any
experience doing this?

Also is there any other way to break the stiction?

Ken

 

[ken]

Believe Franc Zabkar is correct. As mentioned my HD was only used
very infrequently for backup.

Ken

 

[ken]

Puckdropper

"You didn't say SATA (keyed) or 40-pin IDE" It is a standard 40 pin
with keyed connector.

Ken

 

[clifto]

I was afraid of doing any damage so probably did not hit the case very
hard but so far hitting the metal casing with the handle of a
screwdriver has done nothing.

Another trick I saw way back when was to put the drive in a plastic zip-lock
bag and put it in the freezer for a day or two, then pull it out *in the bag*
and let it return to room temperature before removing the bag.

 

[Franc Zabkar]

Franc Zabkar

Thanks for the Stiction tip! "If so, then hit the metal casing with
the handle of a screwdriver."

Am guessing you are correct. This HD was only used as a backup so
never became hot and there was never any smell.

I was afraid of doing any damage so probably did not hit the case very
hard but so far hitting the metal casing with the handle of a
screwdriver has done nothing.

Did some searching and found mention of hitting a wooden table with
the stuck HD to free the heads. Am wondering if you have had any
experience doing this?

Also is there any other way to break the stiction?

Ken

I've never had to hit a stuck drive any harder than with a screwdriver
handle.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Puckdropper]

Another trick I saw way back when was to put the drive in a plastic
zip-lock bag and put it in the freezer for a day or two, then pull it
out *in the bag* and let it return to room temperature before removing
the bag.

If you're interested in more solutions like this, you might want to do a
Google Search for "200 ways to revive a hard drive". I'd link to a
direct document, but the first two results (which are probably what you
want to read) are PDFs. This way, you can use Google's "View as HTML"
option if you want.

Puckdropper

 

[ken]

Thanks for the tips!

Am wondering if anyone has tried this "Hold the drive upside down,
making gravity change the head geometry ever so slightly. Vertical is
also another option."

Also if the heads are sticking to the platter and the motor is not
turning, how long until it burns out?

Ken

 

[Franc Zabkar]

Also if the heads are sticking to the platter and the motor is not
turning, how long until it burns out?

Ken

I'm not sure, but I would think that the drive's controller would time
out after a finite number of failed attempts.

IIRC, when this happens I can hear a soft clicking sound. I use an old
AT PSU for testing, and I hold the body of the drive against my ear.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[ken]

Franc

Have been trying the suggestions like hitting and dropping the hard
drive. Have not tried the freezer suggestion yet. Am wondering if
can short out anything if there is moisture condensation inside it?

Thanks again for your help.

Ken

 

[Allodoxaphobia]

Have been trying the suggestions like hitting and dropping the hard
drive. Have not tried the freezer suggestion yet. Am wondering if
can short out anything if there is moisture condensation inside it?

Doesn't work _now_ , does it?

 

[clifto]

Doesn't work _now_ , does it?

Besides, the instructions for the freezer suggestion said to seal the unit
in a baggie before freezing and to keep it in the sealed baggie until it
warms to room temperature, so that all the condensation ends up on the
outside of the baggie and not inside the drive.

 

[Michael Black]

Doesn't work _now_ , does it?

Of course, there is the decision about when you've decided all hope
is lost. He may be still at the point where he's still hoping something
will work, so he hesitates over what seems like a radical solution.

Anything that seems terminal should only be the last resort. But
some may hold out hope longer than others.

Michael

 

[Franc Zabkar]

Franc

Have been trying the suggestions like hitting and dropping the hard
drive. Have not tried the freezer suggestion yet. Am wondering if
can short out anything if there is moisture condensation inside it?

Thanks again for your help.

Ken

You may want to listen to these sound samples:

http://tinyurl.com/34y47
http://www.hitachigst.com/hddt/know...4b1a62a50f405d0d86256756006e340c?OpenDocument

I have an IBM 6GB HD that used to be very quiet. However, it wouldn't
spin up reliably. After a lot of frustration I gave it a good
thrashing with a blunt instrument. That seemed to have cured the
stiction fault, but immediately afterwards the bearings became
*extremely* noisy. :-(

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Meat Plow]

Franc

Have been trying the suggestions like hitting and dropping the hard
drive. Have not tried the freezer suggestion yet. Am wondering if
can short out anything if there is moisture condensation inside it?

Thanks again for your help.

Ken

If your goal is to retrieve data from the drive you can remove the cover
and try to spin the platter with a finger. If this works the drive will
run without a cover more than long enough to get your data as long as what
prevented the drive from starting on its own. In other words removing the
cover won't cause short term harm to the drive.

 

[ken]

Franc

Thanks for the links.

Am guessing that impact is not that good for the delicate parts.

Do you or anyone else have success data for freezing HDs?

The reason I am hesitant to subject this HD to harsh treatment is
that it was working fine when I put it in storage.

Am now thinking that it could be a power contact problem? Will
corroded contacts or poor power contacts give this type of symptom? I
have never head any motor noise of any kind. What do you think?

Ken