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From: zlraa@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Ross Alford)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Hard drive repair...For do-it-yourselfers.
Message-ID: <1991Jun26.061359.28370@marlin.jcu.edu.au>
Date: 26 Jun 91 06:13:59 GMT
References: <16731@gdc.portal.com>
Organization: James Cook University
Lines: 39

In <16731@gdc.portal.com> danek@gdc.portal.com writes:

>I've  been reading many help requests about crashed hard drives over the 
>last few weeks and wish to share an experience that may (or may not) help
>some desperate data seekers.
> ...
>After about a week of calling drive repair places, I decided upon a local
>house. Being the destructive type, I decided to do what everyone says NOT to
>even think about...open the drive. I figured I at worst, I could see what makes
>the drives tick. After removing the screws, cover and seal, I found the platter
>and the head staring me in the face. I moved the head back and forth a few
>times to watch the movement, then put the drive back together. 

>I decided to power the unit up as a last good-by and...you guessed it... the 
>dirve booted!!! Not only that, but all the data that wasn't on track 0 (wiped
>out when I tried a low level format) was recovered (and backed up)...That was
>about 6 months ago and the drive has been working fine ever since. All my
>disk tests say the drive is just fine....until the next crash!!!

>Remember...this is just a personal experience...never try this at home...unless
>you have nothin to lose!!

I have a ST225, bought in September 1986.  In about March 1989 I opened
up the computer for some reason and discovered that, and I am not joking
here, some small ants had eaten through the filter on the top of the
case and were wandering in and out.  I immediately secured a new layer
of filter paper over the top of the little thingy that has the filter in
it.  The drive is still working.  I don't know where the ants were going
after they disappeared into the casing, but I assume they were at least
slightly violating the "clean-room" integrity of the drive.  Perhaps
they always got flung off the platters before the heads extended at
startup?  Just goes to show that you can *sometimes* get lucky.

Ross
-- 
Ross A. Alford
Department of Zoology                      Internet: zlraa@marlin.jcu.edu.au
James Cook University                      Phone:    +61 77 81 4732
Townsville, Qld 4811 Australia