Repairing a HDD?

Josh_1995

New Member
I think I've got a corrupt HDD, IDE 160GB, since it keeps freezing up and now the bios and Recovery discs dont recognize a HDD anymore, i was wondering if there is any way to repair it to get it fully working again?


Thanks,

Joshua
 
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If the bios won't recognize it anymore, it's pretty much a lost cause. You MIGHT be able to replace the I/O board on it, but most of them have ribbons soldered to the motor and are very difficult to replace. Plus you'd have to find an identical drive to do this with.

There's also the possiblility of platter swapping, also requiring an identical drive. However, if any dust, fingerprints...anything gets onto the platters, the data's pretty much lost.
 
If the bios won't recognize it anymore, it's pretty much a lost cause. You MIGHT be able to replace the I/O board on it, but most of them have ribbons soldered to the motor and are very difficult to replace. Plus you'd have to find an identical drive to do this with.

There's also the possiblility of platter swapping, also requiring an identical drive. However, if any dust, fingerprints...anything gets onto the platters, the data's pretty much lost.

Yeah this is very hard to so and if you are not careful while soldering the ribbons you could ruin them. if you really need the info take it to a place like geek squad they may be able to get stuff off it
 
Thanks guys. I think i might go for the platter swapping, I've got an identical HDD that I'll use ;D Thanks again.
 
Thanks guys. I think i might go for the platter swapping, I've got an identical HDD that I'll use ;D Thanks again.

I look foward to hearing a follow up on this.

I don't think platter swapping is as easy as you think. I have taken apart a few drives - mostly for destruction over the years - but I didn't notice any simple way to open up and replace the platters.

If you're able to successfully do it, please post with some pics. I'd be interested in learning.
 
Save a lot of heartache and frustration by getting a new drive. Fixing a dead one is like sticking new tires on a car that doesn't run.
 
I've never tried a platter swap personally, but I have opened drives and and spun the platters... The drive motor couldn't get the platters going, but it'd work with a little help. I think the drive lasted about 30 minutes max before I started getting errors :P

Good luck in doing this, I too would like to know how it turns out.

Now you're making me wish I had some drives to try a platter swap...
 
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