Is it possible to disassemble a hard drive? Self-repair of laptop hard drive. BIOS doesn't see the drive
If your hard drive failed, you can disassemble it into parts. But such a procedure requires certain skills. To properly disassemble a hard drive, it is important to know a few useful rules.
If you want to repair your hard drive, then know that you cannot open it at home. During assembly of the hard drive, a vacuum is specially created inside the box, thanks to which the device can operate long time. If you pull out a hard drive, it will become unusable after a few seconds of exposure to air. Therefore, you can disassemble the device only if you are completely sure that it is faulty. Before removing the hard drive, turn off the computer and unplug the wire from the outlet. If you are using a desktop computer, remove the side panels from system unit. There are six bolts on the back of the cover. Unscrew them to remove the hard drive without unnecessary obstacles. Disconnect all wires and cables that are connected to the hard drive. Do this very carefully so as not to damage the wires. After this, you can begin to unscrew the hard drive mounting bolts. If you want to remove the hard drive that is in the laptop, first completely disconnect it from the power supply, close the lid and turn it over. Remove the battery from the computer. There is a special latch on the laptop body. Grab it with one hand and press it with the other back panel computer from bottom to top. Proceed carefully - to ensure that nothing breaks, apply even force. Then the cover will give way and you can remove it from the body.
Now you know how to disassemble a hard drive into small parts. Try to act slowly and carefully - then you will not damage anything and remove the necessary elements safe and sound.
Have a nice time everyone! This article is dedicated to the topic of the device hard drive HDD operating via the SATA interface and is for informational purposes only! We will clearly show you how to disassemble a hard drive. We will simply disassemble it and visually study its structure.
Therefore immediately
WARNING: Do not disassemble the computer hard drive! Never, under any circumstances, do with your hard drive what is described in this article! Next, you will see and understand why you cannot disassemble the “working” hard drive. In this article, we will disassemble a completely faulty HDD, which can no longer be restored.
Let's start with an external examination. The front side with a metal cover and sticker looks quite nice. Please note that this cover is secured with special star screws. However, absolutely all hard drive components are secured with such screws.
But what you and I see from the reverse side (bottom) will shock any radio amateur, and indeed any person who has anything to do with electronics. Deep scratches on the control board are clearly visible, as well as the absence of a cable from the motor control controller.
So the conclusion is clear: our “hard” was in the hands of a vandal or, most likely, a small child and is not working with 100% probability.
And the second conclusion: a hard drive is a fragile thing and requires special handling. Therefore, you cannot drop it, throw it, throw it, disassemble it, and, even more so, leave it alone with small children.
So, armed with a star screwdriver, unscrew all the cover screws. For some reason she doesn’t want to act! It turns out that there is another screw hidden under the factory sticker. We unscrew it, remove the cover and admire the beauty of this engineering miracle. Beautiful, isn't it? It looks like some kind of expensive record player. Although, in general, in essence it is so.
The basis of our “hard” is made up of two aluminum disks coated with a ferromagnetic layer (the disks can be made of any other non-magnetic material, for example, durable glass, only the coating matters). The second most important part is the movable rod with the write/read head.
The principle of operation is similar to a regular vinyl disc player: the discs rotate, and the head moves along the discs, reading the magnetized areas. Recording occurs in exactly the same way, only the head itself magnetizes/demagnetizes certain areas. However, if in a player the head is equipped with a needle for reading sound from the record and, as it were, crawls along it, scratching, then in a hard drive the head does not touch the surface of the disks - everything happens electromagnetically.
The rotation of the disks is controlled by a small motor controlled by a controller on the board (the cable from which in our case is broken). The movement of the rod with the head is carried out according to the principle of an electromagnet. At the back it has a coil to which electric current is supplied. The coil itself is located between two permanent magnets. Depending on the current strength, the electromagnetic field strength changes and the rod deviates by certain angle. This mechanism is controlled by a separate controller. Do you see the train to the right of the bar in the photo above? It is through it that control occurs, as well as data exchange between the head and the board (the brain of the hard drive).
As we have already noted, the hard design has two disks mounted on the motor spindle and separated by bushings and a special bulkhead. Since there are two disks, there should also be two heads. No! There are actually four heads, since writing/reading occurs on both sides of each disk.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to carefully remove the board, since the “stars” with which it is attached are much smaller size. So I just broke it out as carefully as possible.
On the board are:
- a chip, like a BIOS, that records the manufacturer, model, capacity and other factory parameters
- several controllers for controlling mechanical parts
- cache (small RAM) for data exchange
- directly the data transmission module, including via SATA interface(contacts from it are visible at the bottom of the board)
- microprocessor that controls and synchronizes the operation of all modules
- other auxiliary chips
USEFUL:
To summarize, I would like to say two things.
Firstly, the article is purely for informational purposes. It simply clearly demonstrates how you can theoretically disassemble a hard drive and demonstrates it internal structure. You cannot disassemble a working, normal hard drive.
Second point related to the first. I would really like the reader, now knowing about the structure of the hard drive and having clearly seen what parts it consists of, once again, trying to connect his drive to another computer (no matter in what way) or during production, to understand that the hard drive - the device is electronic and at the same time electromechanical. It has a lot of small and fragile parts, an open circuit board, and a lot of moving mechanical parts. However, this “device” is not cheap. Therefore, my friends, be gentle with your “hard”, love it)))
But seriously, be extremely careful when connecting and transporting hard drives so that their service life lasts as long as possible.
P.S. You can see a full photo report of how this hard drive was disassembled.
When with hard drive If some hardware problems appear, if you have the proper experience, it makes sense to inspect the device yourself, without resorting to the help of specialists. Also, those people who just want to gain knowledge related to assembly and the general view from the inside resort to disassembling disks on their own. Typically, non-working or unnecessary HDDs are used for this purpose.
First, I would like to warn beginners who want to try to fix the hard drive themselves if any problems arise, for example, a knock under the cover. Incorrect and careless actions can easily damage the drive and lead to permanent damage and loss of all data stored on it. Therefore, you should not take risks, wanting to save money on the services of professionals. If possible, do backups all important information.
Do not allow debris to get on the hard drive plate. Even a small speck of dust is larger than the flight height of the disk head. Dust, hair, fingerprints or other obstacles to the movement of the read head on the plate can damage the device, and your data will be lost beyond recovery. Perform the analysis in a clean and sterile environment, wearing special gloves.
A standard hard drive from a computer or laptop looks like this:
The back is typically the back of the controller that is held on by torx screws. These same screws are also on the front of the case. In some cases, an additional screw may be hidden under the factory sticker, so after unscrewing the visible screws, open the cover very smoothly, without sudden movements.
Under the cover there will be those components of the hard drive that are responsible for writing and reading data: the head and the disk platters themselves.
Depending on the volume of the device and its price category, there can be several disks and heads: from one to four. Each such plate is put on the motor spindle, arranged according to the “storey” principle and separated from the other plate by a sleeve and a bulkhead. There can be twice as many heads as disks because each platter has both sides for writing and reading.
The disks rotate due to the operation of the motor, which is controlled by the controller through a loop. The principle of operation of the head is simple: it rotates along the disk without touching it and reads magnetized areas. Accordingly, all interaction of these parts of the disk is based on the principle of an electromagnet.
The head has a coil on the back where the current flows. This coil is located in the middle of two permanent magnets. Strength electric current affects the strength of the electromagnetic field, as a result of which the bar chooses one or another angle of inclination. This design depends on a separate controller.
The controller contains the following elements:
In this article we told you how to disassemble a hard drive and what parts it consists of. This information will help you understand the principle of HDD operation, as well as possible problems that occur during operation of the device. We remind you once again that the information is for informational purposes only and shows how to disassemble an unusable drive. If your disk is functioning normally, then you cannot disassemble it yourself - there is a high risk of damaging it.
Yesterday I came across a faulty Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drive (HDD) with a capacity of 500 GB. Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 entered the market in 2011 and, one might say, was one of the most popular and modern drives at that time. The price/quality ratio was unmatched.
In this article I want to briefly talk about the structure of a hard drive - what it consists of. I am sure this will be interesting not only to me, but also to you! Previously, when I came across such hard drives(faulty), I did not disassemble them, but simply threw them away. Which I regret a little now.
But why this article now? Everything is quite simple, on at the moment(2018) hard drives of this type (or even more modern) are found everywhere, and few people do not know what it is - a hard drive (HDD). But time passes and they are being replaced by modern SSD drives, which are faster. Conventional HDDs are gradually losing their positions, giving way to SSDs. But while SSD drives are very expensive, even small ones, they will not completely replace HDDs soon. ABOUT SSD drives I'll tell you in the next article. I hope that by that time I will get one that is not working properly so that I can disassemble it.
First, let's define HDD and begin our analysis.
Hard drive magnetic disks (hard (magnetic) disk drive, HDD) is a storage device for storing information based on the principle of magnetic recording. It is the main storage device in most computers.
Disassembling the hard drive
This is what it looks like externally:
Top view
Bottom view
We won’t dwell on this for long, I’ll just say one thing: visual inspection we see a black aluminum body and printed circuit board controls with connectors.
Starting day, remove the printed circuit board:
This is where it gets more interesting, isn’t it?
On the cover, which is slightly included in the frame, there is a rubber gasket ( 1 ), which protects against dust getting into the disk case.
Of course, what immediately catches your eye is the rigid aluminum plate ( 2 ), covered with a layer of magnesium oxide, on which all information is stored. Depending on the volume (500 GB, 1000 GB), several magnetic plates can be used. On our hard drive, there is only one such plate.
Above the plate there is a read head ( 3 ), which, due to the very rapid rotation of the plate, does not touch the disk. And that’s all, because at such speeds an air gap is formed, so it prevents the read head from touching the disk.
During operation, the spindle ( 4 ), on which the plate is fixed, rotates at a speed of 3600 to 15000 revolutions per minute. Just crazy speed.
The read head sits between two very powerful neodymium magnets ( 5 ).
Neodymium magnet– a very powerful permanent magnet, with high resistance to demagnetization. Over 10 years, such a magnet will lose only 0.1-2% of its magnetization. It is susceptible to corrosion, so it is often plated with nickel, which gives it a metallic sheen.
We can’t see anything else here, so we move on. We remove all elements of the hard drive:
It's more clear this way
Here we have a plate, a spindle, a pair of magnets and a head with a coil. Unfortunately, the photo quality leaves much to be desired, but what can you do?
That's probably all. Thanks for watching.
Disassembly external hard disk, the process in most cases is not complicated and quick. But as it turned out, this does not happen with all disks. Falling into my hands external hard HP pd500a drive everything was a little more complicated. After the fall, the disk did not want to be detected through the USB port and nothing could be reached. Having decided to disassemble and try a direct connection to the computer via a SATA cable, to extract at least some files.
With most drives, you simply pull out the top and we get to the hard drive itself. In this case, it was not so simple. After several attempts, the case did not give in and in order not to break anything, I looked for information on how to disassemble an external hard drive on the Internet, but apart from instructions for connecting to a computer, I did not find anything else. Therefore, I decided to write small guide, maybe it will be useful to someone. Looking ahead, I want to say that there is no connectivity on the hard drive standard SATA, USB is soldered onto the board itself.
It was immediately clear that the case is held on by plastic latches. Having taken the pick for disassembly, I began to look for where to hook to disconnect the body.
Disassembling the HP external hard drive pocket
At first glance, a simple and convenient case with nothing superfluous.
As I already said, not seeing any cover or part that could be easily and effortlessly removed, I began to look for where the picks would catch. After turning it in my hands for a few minutes, I saw two slightly visible holes on the top of the case.
The place where we will start has been found. Picking up a mediator ( you can use a simple plastic card, but do not use screwdrivers or other metal objects, otherwise you will damage the case), we try to disconnect the fastenings.
By prying and passing along the entire length of the upper part of the body, the lid should lift slightly.
Having finished with the upper part in a similar way, we use a pick on both sides of the case, our external hard drive. You may need to apply some force in some places, but be careful not to overdo it or break the plastic latches.
Having removed the top part of the cover, all that remains is to remove the hard drive itself from the case and remove the rubber stands, which serve to ensure that the drive does not create unnecessary noise during operation.
In order to get the HDD, we simply lift it up. There are no more fastenings, so he can safely take it out.
This is how it should look disassembled. On the upper part of the case, which is on the right in the screenshot, you can see nine latches that held our case so tightly.
As I said earlier, the USB port is soldered onto the board itself, but there is no standard SATA.
As you understand, it was not possible to connect the drive and check it, so I had to send it for service. Also, I want to say that you should not unnecessarily disassemble your external hard drive from the company. In any case, even if you do everything carefully, after disassembly, small cracks and small scratches may appear on the case itself.
This is a small guide to disassembling external hard drives from HP. If something doesn't work out, leave a comment and I'll try to help you. Also, do not forget to subscribe to RSS or Email to follow updates on.
Disassembling the HP pd500a external hard drive
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