Quantum hard Drive repair

[bibilit]

This morning, the hard drive of my IIsi refused to work, and i was greeted with the flashing floppy.

The hard drive was spinning ok, but the arm was not doing anything, and it was not damaged nor suffering from stiction.

Already had this issue before and as i am keeping all my hard drives (including the broken ones) i managed to swap the board with a broken unit... and the hard drive booted right away.

second time around i repair a Quantum drive this way.

 

[techknight]

did you replace the caps on the PCB? there are at least a couple leakers on there. 

 

[bibilit]

Yes, replaced two caps.

 

[Scott Baret]

Out of curiosity, which model of Quantum was this?

 

[bibilit]

Quantum Prodrive LPS (40 Mb)

 

[aplmak]

Ahhhh the Prodrive.. Under the platter in the middle is a rubber bumper that turns gooey.. The head arm sticks to it.. It's hidden under the platter.. I've attempted to replace.. But not successfully yet.. I think it can be done! I just don't put too much effort into those drives.

 

[techknight]

I have done one of those under-platter drives, its still in my CC and its still working so far. 

But it was a single-platter drive so I got lucky. 

Multi-platter drives you need the compression tool. 

I had to use a microfiber cloth to clean the platter, along with one of those silicone rollers that pick up the unseen fibers and debris. Drive is still holding up ok. I just used a few layers of heatshrink so its not quite rubbery, you can tell because when the drive shuts down or fires up you hear a loud clunk.

 

[Scott Baret]

The bumper repair is apparently pretty easy. I have a drive I want to try it on sometime.

I have another ProDrive LPS that doesn't get recognized so that one may need the capacitor.

Good to know about the LPS needing these eventually since I use a bunch of LPS drives, both with the kids and at home in my LC.

I'm a firm believer in using the original hard drives and keeping them going as long as possible, so this is extremely valuable information to me.

 

[68krazy]

I'm a firm believer in using the original hard drives and keeping them going as long as possible, so this is extremely valuable information to me.

Just curious, why do you prefer to keep the original drives running over other solutions?

 

[Bolle]

For me it is the sound the drives make... Could listen to the crisp and crunchy seeking sounds some of those old drives are making all day long.

 

[olePigeon]

SCSI2SD would be 1000% better if it made HDD sounds, especially if you could load up your favorite HDD "audio profiles."  Not just HDDs, but you could do floppy sounds, tape drives, etc.  Would be a hoot.

 

[IlikeTech]

You could do that with a RaspSCSI, if you added an audio player.

 

[olePigeon]

RaspSCSI is too complicated.

Edit:  (For me.)

 

[Scott Baret]

Part of it is indeed the authenticity (including the sounds). The other is that I prefer anything to be stock with equipment since I like to keep what was originally engineered for something (or what it was engineered around) intact. It's a personal preference but also one I choose to maximize compatibility.

I'm the person who cringes at an aftermarket stereo in a classic car at a show...

 

[akessel56]

I have done one of those under-platter drives, its still in my CC and its still working so far.

But it was a single-platter drive so I got lucky.

Multi-platter drives you need the compression tool.

I had to use a microfiber cloth to clean the platter, along with one of those silicone rollers that pick up the unseen fibers and debris. Drive is still holding up ok. I just used a few layers of heatshrink so its not quite rubbery, you can tell because when the drive shuts down or fires up you hear a loud clunk.

So I have a multiplatter drive, are these hopeless to fix?

 

[techknight]

So I have a multiplatter drive, are these hopeless to fix?

You would need a platter removal tool.