Q, re: laptop hard drives

[JFG]

I disassembled a friend's dead laptop HDD to see if I could retrieve the
disk which is full of data that he wants. My question is: is there a way to
read the disk other than to place it in another laptop hard drive? Put
differently, does anyone know of a reader for this 2.5 inch laptop disk?
Has anyone in this group successfully gotten data back this way? I
sacrificed another perfectly good laptop hard drive in an attempt to read
the disk but was not successful. I have the feeling that this is a delicate
operation that can be easily messed up. Appreciate all replies. JG

 

[Yes Baby]

I disassembled a friend's dead laptop HDD to see if I could retrieve the
disk which is full of data that he wants. My question is: is there a way
to read the disk other than to place it in another laptop hard drive? Put
differently, does anyone know of a reader for this 2.5 inch laptop disk?
Has anyone in this group successfully gotten data back this way? I
sacrificed another perfectly good laptop hard drive in an attempt to read
the disk but was not successful. I have the feeling that this is a
delicate operation that can be easily messed up. Appreciate all replies.
JG

yes, did you do it in a dust free environment/clean room.

 

[kony]

I disassembled a friend's dead laptop HDD to see if I could retrieve the
disk which is full of data that he wants.

Based on your next question, obviously you are not a HDD
technician in a cleanroom, so the data is gone.

Do not disassemble a hard drive, your options were to try to
recover it with software, or send it to a data recovery
center while still sealed. Opening it just eliminates any
reasonable chance of recovery.

My question is: is there a way to
read the disk other than to place it in another laptop hard drive? Put
differently, does anyone know of a reader for this 2.5 inch laptop disk?

No, only a data recovery center has the equipment and
expertise to do this.

Has anyone in this group successfully gotten data back this way? I
sacrificed another perfectly good laptop hard drive in an attempt to read
the disk but was not successful. I have the feeling that this is a delicate
operation that can be easily messed up. Appreciate all replies. JG

It wasn't a reasonable thing to try to do at all. Give up.

 

[jfg]

Based on your next question, obviously you are not a HDD
technician in a cleanroom, so the data is gone.

Do not disassemble a hard drive, your options were to try to
recover it with software, or send it to a data recovery
center while still sealed. Opening it just eliminates any
reasonable chance of recovery.




No, only a data recovery center has the equipment and
expertise to do this.



It wasn't a reasonable thing to try to do at all. Give up.

Given that his hard drive was dead - it had a dislodged actuator arm - and
given that he didn't want to send it to California for an expensive data
retrieval, I thought it was reasonable to try to remove the disk and use it
in another hard drive. Apparently, this is a delicate operation, or at
least that's what the retrieval techs want us to believe. Anyway, I don't
see how the data could be lost since it's written to the disk. Am I wrong
about that? I DO see that it's going to be tricky to retrieve it. Thanks
for the replies. JG

 

[kony]

Given that his hard drive was dead - it had a dislodged actuator arm - and
given that he didn't want to send it to California for an expensive data
retrieval, I thought it was reasonable to try to remove the disk and use it
in another hard drive.

Reasonable as-in, "what have you got to lose but time",
maybe, but reasonable as-in "any reasonable chance of
recovering the data", no.

Apparently, this is a delicate operation, or at
least that's what the retrieval techs want us to believe. Anyway, I don't
see how the data could be lost since it's written to the disk.

1) The data might already be corrupt on the disk before you
touched it -remember the drive is malfunctioning already.

2) The data is lost because you introduce dust which, due
to the fine tolerances needed to read, will crash the head
the next time you tried to read it even if all else were
acceptible.

Am I wrong
about that? I DO see that it's going to be tricky to retrieve it. Thanks
for the replies. JG

Forget "trickey", it's gone.

 

[JFG]

Reasonable as-in, "what have you got to lose but time",
maybe, but reasonable as-in "any reasonable chance of
recovering the data", no.




1) The data might already be corrupt on the disk before you
touched it -remember the drive is malfunctioning already.

2) The data is lost because you introduce dust which, due
to the fine tolerances needed to read, will crash the head
the next time you tried to read it even if all else were
acceptible.


Forget "trickey", it's gone.

Kony, thanks for your input. The laptop hard drive is not hermetically
sealed. It has a breathing hole that must not be covered. This makes me
think that the issue of dust is overdone by techs. Basically, the drive is
a simple device but the tolerances may be my downfall as you suggest.
Still, I'm going to fool with these removed platters just to satisfy my need
to investigate. My friend realizes that his data should have been backed
up. He had a few gigs worth of docs, pix and other things he really wanted.
He'll back up now, you can bet. Almost everyone I know has to learn this
lesson the hard way including myself a few years back.

I am not a computer tech, but I do know my way around computers reasonably
well. I intend to sacrifice at least one more laptop HDD in an attempt to
read the platter. After that, I'll give up and, like yourself, will just
consider the data to be lost. I think his data might have been erased to
begin with, having been corrupted by the misaligned actuator arm. But this
is one of the things I want to find out. Thanks again, JG

 

[kony]

Kony, thanks for your input. The laptop hard drive is not hermetically
sealed. It has a breathing hole that must not be covered. This makes me
think that the issue of dust is overdone by techs.

No, it is a finely filtered hole. If what you are thinking
you ought to be able to do, were realistic, others would
already be doing it. Some do - data recovery centers which
have the cleanrooms, training, experience, and equipment.
They cost a lot because you can't just pop it open and DIY.

Basically, the drive is
a simple device but the tolerances may be my downfall as you suggest.
Still, I'm going to fool with these removed platters just to satisfy my need
to investigate. My friend realizes that his data should have been backed
up. He had a few gigs worth of docs, pix and other things he really wanted.
He'll back up now, you can bet. Almost everyone I know has to learn this
lesson the hard way including myself a few years back.

I am not a computer tech, but I do know my way around computers reasonably
well.

??

And you're calling a hard drive a simple device why,
exactly? Because the parts are too small or the electronics
are embedded into microchips so you can't see them? A hard
drive is not user repairable by swapping platters.

 

[Paul]

Kony, thanks for your input. The laptop hard drive is not hermetically
sealed. It has a breathing hole that must not be covered. This makes me
think that the issue of dust is overdone by techs. Basically, the drive is
a simple device but the tolerances may be my downfall as you suggest.
Still, I'm going to fool with these removed platters just to satisfy my need
to investigate. My friend realizes that his data should have been backed
up. He had a few gigs worth of docs, pix and other things he really wanted.
He'll back up now, you can bet. Almost everyone I know has to learn this
lesson the hard way including myself a few years back.

I am not a computer tech, but I do know my way around computers reasonably
well. I intend to sacrifice at least one more laptop HDD in an attempt to
read the platter. After that, I'll give up and, like yourself, will just
consider the data to be lost. I think his data might have been erased to
begin with, having been corrupted by the misaligned actuator arm. But this
is one of the things I want to find out. Thanks again, JG

There are many articles available about hard drive technology, dimensions and
such. For example, there is an illustration here, comparing the dimension of a
human hair, a speck of dust, and the flying height (10 microinch at one time,
and a lot less than that now).

http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/heads/opHeight.html

The picture in Wikipedia, of the head assembly, doesn't do it justice. It has
a fine structure, as shown in the IBM micrograph in the second link. The "working
bit" is the little dimple on the bottom.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/Rwheadmicro.JPG

http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/403/chiu7.gif

When you remove a platter from the spindle, the chances of getting the
platter precisely aligned on the new spindle properly, are infinitesimally
small. For example, disk drive capacity is partially affected by bearing
runout, and the new fluid dynamic bearings have a runout of 0.01 microinches.
Those are the dimensions they considered important (I guess that would
correspond to the magnitude of the vibration amplitude from true center while
spinning). There are thousands of tracks per inch. You have to position the
platter, so the tracks are perfectly concentric with respect to the axis
of rotation. I would not expect the actuator arm to be able to correct for
the kind of concentricity error your manipulation would cause. This is easy
to do for the manufacturer, because they "write" the embedded servo, after
the platter is attached to the spindle. So concentricity is guaranteed by the
fact that everything is bolted solidly together, before servo is written.

I would think the majority of data recovery operations, occur at the firmware
level. Or at the level of accessing the interface on the controller board itself.
Occasionally, they change out a head. But moving a platter around, would
take some serious equipment.

There are people who have reported removing the cover from the HDA, and being
able to read data later. But these people have not touched the actuator arm
or the platters, so the mechanical details have been unaffected. They probably
find areas of the disk that are unreadable (as the dust causes the head to
crash or change flying height).

Opening the HDA is one thing, but as soon as you touch anything inside there,
the odds of getting anything from the assembly later are going to be pretty low.
For example, just the mechanical action of applying a screwdriver to the head
of a screw, scrapes debris from the top of the screw head. The flakes can
recirculate inside the HDA later.

This is a spec for a breather hole filter.

http://web.archive.org/web/20061013...m/en/diskdrive/support/datalibrary/000611.pdf

"Efficiency 45-95% on 0.1 µm Particles @ 5.3 cm/s (10.5 ft/min)"

A 0.1 µm particle is pretty small, and that is what the filter is removing
from the air moving through the breather.

Paul

 

[jfg]

There are many articles available about hard drive technology, dimensions
and
such. For example, there is an illustration here, comparing the dimension
of a
human hair, a speck of dust, and the flying height (10 microinch at one
time,
and a lot less than that now).

http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/heads/opHeight.html

The picture in Wikipedia, of the head assembly, doesn't do it justice. It
has
a fine structure, as shown in the IBM micrograph in the second link. The
"working
bit" is the little dimple on the bottom.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/Rwheadmicro.JPG

http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/403/chiu7.gif

When you remove a platter from the spindle, the chances of getting the
platter precisely aligned on the new spindle properly, are infinitesimally
small. For example, disk drive capacity is partially affected by bearing
runout, and the new fluid dynamic bearings have a runout of 0.01
microinches.
Those are the dimensions they considered important (I guess that would
correspond to the magnitude of the vibration amplitude from true center
while
spinning). There are thousands of tracks per inch. You have to position
the
platter, so the tracks are perfectly concentric with respect to the axis
of rotation. I would not expect the actuator arm to be able to correct for
the kind of concentricity error your manipulation would cause. This is
easy
to do for the manufacturer, because they "write" the embedded servo, after
the platter is attached to the spindle. So concentricity is guaranteed by
the
fact that everything is bolted solidly together, before servo is written.

I would think the majority of data recovery operations, occur at the
firmware
level. Or at the level of accessing the interface on the controller board
itself.
Occasionally, they change out a head. But moving a platter around, would
take some serious equipment.

There are people who have reported removing the cover from the HDA, and
being
able to read data later. But these people have not touched the actuator
arm
or the platters, so the mechanical details have been unaffected. They
probably
find areas of the disk that are unreadable (as the dust causes the head to
crash or change flying height).

Opening the HDA is one thing, but as soon as you touch anything inside
there,
the odds of getting anything from the assembly later are going to be
pretty low.
For example, just the mechanical action of applying a screwdriver to the
head
of a screw, scrapes debris from the top of the screw head. The flakes can
recirculate inside the HDA later.

This is a spec for a breather hole filter.

http://web.archive.org/web/20061013...m/en/diskdrive/support/datalibrary/000611.pdf

"Efficiency 45-95% on 0.1 µm Particles @ 5.3 cm/s (10.5 ft/min)"

A 0.1 µm particle is pretty small, and that is what the filter is removing
from the air moving through the breather.

Paul

Paul, thanks. You've convinced me. The references were amazing. I am now
going to officially declare that my friend's data is a dead parrot. It was
worth the 20 bucks or so to kill two laptop HDD's to find this out. Best,
JG