1TB Hard Drive stopped, this fell out when open.

[Rod Bishop]

I just opened a 1TB hard drive that had quit working and this fell out. This is only the second HD I've opened up just to see the operation. this one was making a weird noise that I had not heard before.
I usually just toss the HDs but this was my first TB drive.
I've enjoyed taking things apart since I was little just to see what's inside. Lucky my father didn't spank me just for wanting to see how thing work. I'm 68 and I still take thinks apart, only today, I repair them and I'm at a 90-95% success rate.

I was wondering where the little pad is supposed to go inside the TB drive. Could it be the reason for the strange noise?

Any ideas?

 

[Rod Bishop]

I just opened a 1TB hard drive that had quit working and this fell out. This is only the second HD I've opened up just to see the operation. this one was making a weird noise that I had not heard before.
I usually just toss the HDs but this was my first TB drive.
I've enjoyed taking things apart since I was little just to see what's inside. Lucky my father didn't spank me just for wanting to see how thing work. I'm 68 and I still take thinks apart, only today, I repair them and I'm at a 90-95% success rate.

I was wondering where the little pad is supposed to go inside the TB drive. Could it be the reason for the strange noise?

Any ideas?

 

[Rod Bishop]

tb

 

[voyagerfan99]

It's just a filter used to collect dust that may come in through the breather hole in the drive casing.

 

[JaredDM]

If you're curious as to where to put it back this picture can help:

That one was from a really destroyed hard drive where the surface was scratched off. The red arrows show where it goes in the drive.

However given that you've opened the drive, and I assume not in a proper HEPA clean room, you should throw it away. It can't be trusted now that it's been contaminated inside.