[plug] [OT] Harddrive surgery

[Chris Caston]

Hi guys,

Long time since my last post. I'm wanting to tap your brains a bit and gather some information, links and advice about about harddrive surgery.
I'd like to learn how to repair drives. Mainly along the lines of moving platters, fixing or replacing heads or changing curcuit boards. 

There are of course companies that do this but I'd like to be able to help people in sitations where those services are outside their budget.

Has anyone here fixed a failed drive before and if we what tools would you recommend. Anything from jewellers and precision screwdrivers to screwdriver heads that may be difficult to come by unless ordered online. 

Do you use an electronic airfilter (to remove or minimise dust) and special lighting (limiting parts of the spectrum that may further damage platters) in the workshop?

I guess in many times there is an element of luck and persistance in being able to source and salvage replacement parts from other drives.

I'd like to first practice on failed drives with no datarecovery interest or ones that do have data that people want but (a) isn't valaubale enough to warrant going to a professional service and (b) they won't bite my head off if I fail to recover the data.

At this time i'm more interested in the drive surery side of things rather than specific software and data recovery algorithms. 

Here is one intersting link I have found by googling harddrive surgery:

http://www.aoaforums.com/frontpage/content/view/2490/1/

best regards,

Chris Caston

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