Discussion on:

The Disassembled Laptop Drive Cracking open a laptop hard drive

wonderful photoset.

but why didnt you open up the spindle rotor from the chasis?

i am addicted to opening up HDDs. till date i have opened up at least a hundred drives. from ye olde winchesters to the MFM's of the 80's to the latest SATA's and 2.5 inchers!

Hathehariken,

If you have good quality photos of your disassembled drives, we need to talk. I'd love to publish photos of your old Winchester drives.

I will show you photos step by step.

I've been opening up hard drives for about 10 years now and have actually taken it one step further. I started to make clocks out of them.

Here are a couple pictures:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/ned4spd8874/Misc/HardDriveClock.jpg
And here's one I made from a LightScribe CD:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/ned4spd8874/Misc/CDClock.jpg

I gotta get one of those

Christopher, if you get email alerts about posting on this topic, would you be willing to send instructions on how to build the clock? I would like to surprise my boss with one.

I'll sell you one! ;o)

I plan on making another one soon. E-mail me and maybe we can work something out. ned4spd8874@gmail.com

Wow! those are very cool.

I wish there was! I have listed them a few times on eBay with the hopes of making some much needed extra cash, but haven't had much luck with that so far.

And yes, the letters on the CD clock are burned right into it.

Great idea! I assume that the numbers and all are printed right onto the disk with your lightscribe DVD recorder.

re: hitachi travelstar pics...I have a 40GB SATA version that clicks but won't spinup. removed cover, platter turns freely.... whats invloved in physically removing platter? Does it just lift off after removing the cover.. I can't see how its fastened down in photo. plans are to buy another same model SATA HD..simply swap platters.I have clean room access...thoughts please!!!! thanks very much!!!
waltinbatonrouge

Did you move forward and have success with the platter swap? If so do you hae any tips to share? I was tinking of doing the same thing.

Thanks in advance,

PMB

And you have to remove the Read Write heads before you lift the platter. If you have to buy another working drive you are wasting your time & money attempting this. Just removing the Heads without the right Tool to stop them dragging on the platter is next to impossible and if you do drag them on the platter you mash up the Fine Wire so it's no longer the right shape and doesn't get close enough to the platter.

Also if it touches the platter that Magnetic Material on the Platter gets damaged and causes the drive to fail sooner rather than latter.

Col

Hey! Great use of old disks. I like it. I personally have tried using old disks to make 'Sun Catcher' Mobiles, with some success. However, I like the clock idea better. (I actually salvage dead HD's for the magnets, which are great for holding my screwdrivers, and a lot of other uses. The disks are just leftover 'stuff')
I can see these as gifts.
The light scribe disk is cool too, but I wouldn't want to waste a good CD or DVD just for that. Did you use a 'coaster' that hadn't yet been 'light scribed'? Is that even possible? I have a light scribe capable burner or two, but never bothered to use them that way. (I'm lazy, just use a sharpie instead. Ain't pretty, but works, and is cheaper than light scribe disks. I'm nothing if not frugal, as my name might indicate!)
Where may one find the clock modules that will fit either a 2.5 inch or, better yet, a 3.5 inch platter? I have a lot of the 3.5 inch platters laying around. My kids used to use them to play 'doctor', you know, like in the old days when doctors had a mirror-like gizmo on their head for lighting your mouth, etc. Now they all use some sort of flashlight, but I remember the parabolic mirror thingy. Anyways, thanks for the idea. Drilling hard disks is NOT easy! (For making mobiles) Anyone had any luck drilling a small hole in hard disks without a diamond drill bit? I break more than I drill. (Both disks AND bits... Even with a H2O bath while drilling) Carbide, I know... Works, sort of, but still too much breakage. Or the bit slips and skitters across the disk, ruining it's pretty, mirror-like finish. (No, I know, you should punch the spot first, but on hard disks, that either bends them, or breaks them) The mobiles make a fairly nice clinking sound in the wind, if I make that way, and still catch the light very well, which annoys the hell outta my a*s H*le neighbor. Fun, and yet legal!
Junkman

You can find a lot of modules at this site

Where can I get a Torx bit or screwdriver for those #$*%$ tiny screws?

Cyberguys.com - I love Cyberguys, they have a ton of hard to find computer components (look at their connectors) and good prices (Check their cables) on most of the stuff they sell. They have a couple different screwdriver sets.

i am looking for a shop where to buy: screwdriver or equal for block platter and extract to harddisk without touching with his hands.

A lot of mobile phone accesory wholesalers sell toolkits for servicing mobile phones. The kits usually contain a torx 0, 1 and 2 screwdriver.

I did something similar with a dead laptop HD we have, but I only took off the cover plate. Currently, I have it pinned to my cube wall because it looks nifty. I also have an 3.5" HD platter pinned to my cube wall. It's amazing how must of a perfect mirror they are when still clean.

Astonishing pictures I always wanted to try that with a laptop.Just wondering if you where to put the parts back together if the laptop would still work. The reason I ask is because I always see small PC shops that fix and replace PC Hard drives but never ones that replace laptops hard drives if they are toast.
Thanks for sharing those pics!

In the UK most towns have a number of PC shops that will repair PCs. It is much less common to find shops that will repair laptops, but they do exist. I think traditionally laptops have always been considered harder work and more "mysterious" than desktop PCs, a bit of a black art to some maybe.

These days replacing a laptop's hard disk is much easier. Normally there is a compartment or flap that is easily accessible and the drive can be easily removed, and a new one fitted. Some require a little more thought and are located under the keyboard, especially on smaller notebooks.

As for re-assembling a dismantled hard disk, that is another matter. Any hard disk that has been taken apart is unlikely to work when re-assembled as I believe the platters are very sensitive to imperfections in the air such as dust. This is why companies can get away with charging a small fortune for data recovery when they dismantle and repair drives in vacuum sealed rooms, ensuring no contaimination can take place.

I work for a company that does repair both standard Pc's and Laptops. he laptops take far lnger than any ormal home PC. The reason is that every laptop has a different way of putting things together. The newer HP take a good couple of hours to take apart and have around 60/70 screws before you can get to the parts you need to. Some are easy and as you say just have a flap to gain acsess to the hard drive bay. The worst thing we are finding is the newer laptops manufacturers are setting compatability issues within the machine. So it will only recognise a drive with their code on it. Causes all sorts of problems when the end user thinks it will be a ?60 job including fitting and it turns into them having to send itback to Dell or Acer.

As to putting Hard drives back together. You are bang on correct. Due to dust particles in the air it really wont work. We have 2 on display in the front of the shop so people can see what is inside... Mainly so they arent tempted to take their own to bits!

I have to say if you're initially able to quote ?60 for a laptop repair including fitting your customers are getting good value for money. In the past I have worked for a place that has repaired laptops as well as desktops and we charged a premium for laptop repairs because of the amount of time we had to spend on them compared to a desktop PC.

Availability of parts is also an issue, and to buy something like a new motherboard or screen for a laptop normally makes a repair uneconomical, unless the machine is something really special.

If manufacturers are now starting to produce laptops that will only accept certain drives then that is bad news, a definite backward step. Thankfully it was something I never encountered.

?60 is usually about right for a hard drive and fitting... Motherboard repairs can cost from ?120... Costly and a pain in the butt... The worst thing i have found to replace are the keyboards! We were recently quoted ?150+vat for a keyboard for a sony vaio... the customer chose to plug in an external keyboard! I think i would have too... Then waited for the right one to come up on ebay.

Time isnt really an issue where i work as we charge a flat fee for installation of new parts or fault diagnostics... however long it may take.

I?ll be in the market this Christmas for a laptop each for my wife and oldest daughter. I?d surely like to avoid manufactures / models that have compatibility issues designed into them. Does anyone know of a consumer oriented source of information for this sort of thing?

I can imagine at some point needing to replace hard drives, memory sticks, or the DVD reader/writer. Sounds like it?d be trouble enough without having to deal with deliberately designed roads blocks.

Well forstly let me say... Do not touch Dell. If you are looking for a velue for money PC/Laptop then Acer or HP are far better value for money and their customer support is by far and away superior.

Upgrade wise... Always try and buy the best you can at the time.

Parts wise... Dell insist you send the item back to them and they will upgrade to your specs... This carries a hefty premium and should be avoided. HP, Acer, Fujitsu, Sony parts are easier to get hold of but you can still expect to wait for 4 weeks for Sony, HP and Fujitsu parts. Acer are very quick and the laptops we have had to send in to them for under warranty repairs have come back repaired within a week.

Hope this helps.

OH and try and avoid anything with Vista installed... Horrid system at the moment... Still trying to work it out.

As you commented in a previous post, Sony parts can cost a fortune. Sony like to maintain a tight control of their UK customers and parts are extremely difficult, and expensive, to get hold of.

Sony want you to send the laptop back to them, creating themselves a nice monopoly allowing you to charge them whatever they like. On top of this, a lot of people will pay their extortionate prices because they remember the value of the laptop when they made the initial purchase.

It is sad to see so many people buy Sony because it is a big name and they expect to get premium support, only to find this isn't the case once it is too late.

I found Acer technical support to be awful to get through to. They lost cheques when I ordered parts, ended up waiting for up to 20 minutes on the phone before getting cut off and I had enough of them. I do like their products though and I have heard that customer service went downhill once Esplex took over their parts and warranty service. Hopefully they had teething problems and have since improved.

HP, Compaq and Dell - I have never had problems getting parts for these and they are not the most expensive. Toshiba are also easy to get parts for, and Fujitsu as you say.

I agree with your sentiments - buy the best you can afford up front. Memory and hard drives can be changed later, but these days the price difference between 80Gb and 120Gb is so little - the same with memory. Things like the screen size, availability of ports, weight of the machine are all things that once you buy them, they're fixed and cannot be changed. Take time to make sure you make the right decision when buying.

Parts are always more expensive, and harder to source, on laptops than desktops. I remember being quoted over ?200 for a DVD-RW drive for a Dell laptop about a year ago. A same standard part for a PC at the time would have cost you ?40.

I found that they were pretty quick and handy with keeping us abreast of the situation.

One of the best places i have found to source laptop parts for (excluding harddrives) is a company in Poole called Mercom. They dont usually sell just the parts as they are a repair centre for Curries, However they have been good enough to sort us out on a few occasions. Sending in repairs to them takes them a little longer but you can be assured that they get the job done.

Tess

Very much appreciated the 'from the shoulder' comments on technical support and on Vista. I've found Sony give every assistance short of actual help. You usually get "reinstall the operating system" (and ditch all the stuff you've put on since you got the laptop) - thanks for that guys. If you buy your Sony in one country don't expect to get any help at all from anywhere else - worse than buying a grey import car. And they will swear on a stack of bibles that you can't change the hard drive and lie through their teeth while doing it. Don't expect to get any help to install a larger drive on your Sony either - if the drive's a proprietary design you can only get them to replace it with one the same size even if subsequent models had larger drives and you can't get any useful assistance at all unless you bought an extended warranty. I like Sonys but in my experience they're fragile and only last about 2 years before they need major attention. I have also found Acer offer far better value and reliability and they seem to be getting closer to the cutting edge of technology availability.

Your comments on Vista reflected exactly the views expressed by tekkies in the computer shops in KL. "Not sorted out yet - you're better off with XP" was what they told me.

Regards

Very useful & informative. Thanks for the posting.

Hi, It would be great if you guys can incorporate "slideshow" option for the images...

nice 2 view such an amazing stuff,
visualtreat for non technical ones

Not only is it an amazing example of miniaturization, it actual quite beautiful
inside.

Would like to make a clock out of a laptop hard drive as a gift for my boss. Any possibility of getting instructions from Christopher?

Point one - the holes are aesthetic (and perhaps to reduce weight - they are definitely not to promote airflow!)
Point two - the PCB was ASSEMBLED in Malaysia NOT manufactured there.
Point three - if you are going to post a picture to demonstrate relative size I suggest you use a common object. For example place a CD-ROM in the picture.....

Hard drives are vaccuum sealed. There is no air flow around the platters. This stuff was done in my comp class. If you break the seal and let atmosphere in-- you will shorten the life of the hard drive. Lack of atmosphere is very important considering the rate of RPM the platters spin at.Wind turbulence is bad considering how close the stylus is in relationship to the platter. You have individual stylus for each platter that sit at about a couple of thousanths above the platter. If the stylus touches the platter while the platter is in motion-you can scratch the cobalt coating on the platter.

There IS air inside... Without it, the heads would not 'fly' the couple of thousandths you mention above the platter(s). There is a filter to allow for expansion and contraction of the air in and out of case. (It heats up in use, not to mention, atmospheric changes, altitude, etc) And, one last point, not related to this poster's comments.
To remove that last screw or two, under the label, you do not have to remove the entire label. You can feel for a depression in the label, pushing down hard with finger. Find depression, stick screwdriver with torex bit right through. Works for me almost every time. Sometimes, I have to widen the hole to get screw out, but still faster and easier that pealing the whole label off.
And, reassembling a drive ALMOST never works. But, if the BOARD died, and you have a known good identical unit available, a swap can be done, sometimes will allow one to get info off drive before it all goes bang. I would NEVER trust such a drive for daily use, though. Only for emergency salvage of the data. And even then, it only works some of the time. When it does, though, can save a ton of money! (Not to mention, reputation!)
Junkman

very interesting. diffgerent then I thought it would look like inside. thank you very much for sharing this information with me. I`m one of those Mr fix it ,take anything apart to see what makes it work and alwys put back correctly lol thanks again MEG buddie824@hotmail.com

I will show you my 3.5" HD crscking, soon

Good Stuff, but when should one go for disambelling the hard disk. Other than data back up when it has crashed

now put it back together and get it to work...