So I opened this harddisk because it was not spinning and it kept on making a click sound. This is an old harddisk , so I understand that the technology has changed. But I can’t seem to find the read head parking area which most tutorials show or explain. So my question is, which is the resting position of this read head? Also is there a type or version of this sort of hdd?
These are typically not user serviceable and should only be opened in a clean room. That HDD is probably toast now. The read head is that bar sticking out over the platter. It moves across the platter, reading the magnetized data.
Just to add that “clean room” is
a huge understatementthe actual, correct, technical term, when it comes to HDD internals (see below)I mean it in the industrial sense. An actual clean room.
oops, my bad. Im not smart.
I’ve corrected my comment.I think it was a good call out. You recognized that just being inside of a clean bedroom or something isn’t adequate, and it led to my clarification which will probably be useful for a lot of people.
Former industry guy here.
Some HD’s park the head on a plastic ramp at the OD of the platter stack. I don’t see that structure in your picture.
Others park the head on the platter itself. This area is always not usable area, since contact isn’t great for data integrity. This is a simpler solution but comes at the cost of reduced data capacity.
I don’t recall if this park area is on the ID or OD (it’s been a long time), but the position in your picture is reasonable since it would cost less disk area…
Thanks for the clarification. So I’m assuming none of the newer HDs do this and all of them will be parking on a plastic ramp?
Not necessarily. It varies by manufacturer, and some manufacturers use both methods for the various HD’s they make. Both work just fine, and both have their strengths and weaknesses.
Okay got it.
It doesn’t anymore
If it’s just clikcing it means that the voice coil (magnet and copper part on the other end of the read head) isn’t getting energized. The fix would probably be to repair or replace the circuit board on the outside, not anything internal.
It’s a 10 year old HD. I doubt the circuit board can be replaced now. But the data wasn’t important so it’s kinda fine, but if I could fix it easily that would be nice as well.
You might be able to identify the problem. It’s likely something dumb like a popped solder joint on it one of the chips. You can probably pop the whole board in the oven and reflow it. If it’s only 10 years old then it would fall under ROHS and would be lead free, if you decide to go that route.
I dont know the technical terms, but, is it possible that due to either general wear and tear, perhaps being physically dropped, or perhaps some kind of power surge… that basically some kind of actual mechanism or electric motor responsible for actually moving the … lever thingy (arm?) with the read head… maybe its actually just broken?
EDIT: I cant make it out from the image, but youve got a sticker with a barcode on there, and some kind of id number. Presumably as thats inside the HDD, it might have some relevance to some internal product designation code, and there might be more serial numbers or model numbers etched into the thing if you look at it closely with a flashlight, and maybe glasses or a magnifying glass depending on your eyes.
If youre lucky, net searching the specific numbers may reveal more information, and you /may/ be able to find an actual technical manual.
Good luck though, in my experience that kind of shit can easily take a whole day of rabbit hole diving.
