WD800BB - dust sticker came off

[JBJ]

Hello to all, I got a Western Digital 80GB HDD from a friend because he
could not get it to work. The probleme is that it would not work internal,
but by using an USB box you could put data on it(but it was very slow),
later when you wanted your data then XP/ Vista could find the drive just
not open it - that is, it could be found in Disc management under
"administrative tools", but not under my computer. The drive couldn't be
initailized by either XP or Vista. Paragon HDD manager, couldn't even see
the drive. And in "Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop" its not even being recognized, nor
by Gparted.

Then I noticed the small silvercolored sticker on the side of the drive,
its there to hide a hole to the "discs" in the HDD. This sticker is loose
and allmost falling off, neither I nor my friend have touched this sticker,
so I'm thinking bad glue and possibly a screw in the cabinet.

Anyone else tried this?

HDD is still in warranty, but do you think WDC will take it in when its the
sticker that most proprbly is the cause of the probleme, its there to
protect the drive from dust?

On the other hand, then its WDC who put the sticker there and didn't make
it so it couldn't fall off.

I have worked with Computer for over 22 years and done support on them most
of the time, and I know by heart that you dont remove stickers or labels
from a HDD. And I never seen this before, but if you cover a hole that
should be dustproof, with a sticker then there is a probability that
something like this can happen.

Model er WD800BB
P/N: WD800BB - D0JHC0

I would like to hear from others who experienced this (thinking of how rare
it is that a sticker comes off, but then again it depends on the glue that
holds it), I dont expect many have tried this. But should there be some,
then it can be proven to WDC, that there is something wrong with the glue.
Preferebly the same model.

 

[VanguardLH]

I noticed the small silvercolored sticker on the side of the drive,
its there to hide a hole to the "discs" in the HDD. This sticker is loose
and allmost falling off, neither I nor my friend have touched this sticker,
so I'm thinking bad glue and possibly a screw in the cabinet.

I have worked with Computer for over 22 years

But you have not worked ON the computer hardware. Tis time to do some
research on the construction of hard disks.

The hard disk case is hermetically sealed, not permanently sealed. Air
pressure inside the case is equalized via special filters in the case.
A sticker over the breather hole is NOT the filter. Are you planning on
punching a thick pin through the breather hole and so drill through the
filter? The sticker won't prevent air from getting into or out of the
case. It's just there to keep grime from plugging it up.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/packAir-c.html

 

[Paul]

But you have not worked ON the computer hardware. Tis time to do some
research on the construction of hard disks.

The hard disk case is hermetically sealed, not permanently sealed. Air
pressure inside the case is equalized via special filters in the case.
A sticker over the breather hole is NOT the filter. Are you planning on
punching a thick pin through the breather hole and so drill through the
filter? The sticker won't prevent air from getting into or out of the
case. It's just there to keep grime from plugging it up.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/packAir-c.html

I have some drives here, where there is a hole on the side of the HDA,
covered by a sticker. It looks like it could be a port for shoving an
external servo writer through the side of the drive. They use that to write
servo wedges on the platter.

On newer drives, that port hole is missing. On the Hitachi site that
explains some of the hard drive technologies, there is talk of
doing servo writing with the drive itself, by integrating a
"timing generator" into the hard drive controller board. Apparently,
the mechanical tolerances are too tight now, for the usage of
external servo writer mechanisms. So it is possible, that a couple
newer drives I have here, no longer have embedded servo written
at the factory via an external servo writer.

I can find a reference to the port, here.

http://www.hitechdrive.com/policy.php

"Additional Limitations on Warranty

4MS's warranty does not cover Products which have been received
improperly packaged, altered, or physically damaged...

Damage...

* Obscured breather filter holes
* Punctured at servo writer access port
* Punctured inspect pivot seal"

I've never seen a loose sticker on my drives. Maybe if the
drive was purchased refurbished and the surface of the product was
washed with something at the factory, that is how the sticker got loose ?

Western Digital has their own list of "warranty denied" items.
The servo writer access port is mentioned in this list as well.

http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp?custtype=end&lang=en

Paul