Trying to bring an old hard drive back to life - tips?

[BadGoldEagle]

Hey

I got my MMI M112 (MFM hard drive, 10mb) back from the so called hard drive repair specialists. They said they couldn't repair it because they didn't have any spare parts (I told them they wouldn't be able to source parts for this drive at the beginning but they wouldn't listen). I was a little bit hesitant to tackle the repair work myself (that's why I sent it to them), but hey if "specialists" can't do it, there's nothing to loose. 

This Hard Drive was used on ALL 10mb GCC Hyperdrive 512ks.

I think the heads are stuck, as I can't hear them moving.

Maybe they've crashed, maybe the actuator arm stepper motor's dead? Who knows I haven't opened it up yet. They didn't tell me why they couldn't repair it either.

I'm tempted to hook it up and let the platters spin for a bit with the cover off. Maybe give the heads a little push as well.

Is that a bad thing? I mean I tried this with an old Sony SCSI drive, and gunk was splattered all over the disks...

 

[bibilit]

Hi,

I will open the lid and move heads before any spin done, probably safer than trying to force heads while the platters are spinning.

 

[BadGoldEagle]

Thanks for the Tip! Yeah, if the head has crashed, spinning the platter while moving the arm might ruin the disk completely.

Good thinking.

Any other suggestions?

But can I let the disk spin up without the cover? Is there anything to do if gunk get onto the platters?

 

[bibilit]

But can I let the disk spin up without the cover? Is there anything to do if gunk get onto the platters?

I try to leave it without cover for a short period.

 

[Scott Squires]

If you get gunk on the platters, the game is over. I mean, you can try to clean it off... but I've never seen anyone succeed at that without making things worse. If it's just a tiny speck then you can get lucky.

 

[CelGen]

Typically for drives that low density there's a bit more resiliance too being opened. Key work is a bit. Please still do any work in a clean area with clean hands.

Anyways after each time I delid a hard drive for maintenance and then reassemble it I then run a full format or or a full surface check which moves the heads over all the surfaces. The idea is that any contamination on the drive will hopefully be blown loose by the turbulance of the head passing by it before it actually runs under the head itself and crashes it.

Either way, if it fails this part the drive is dead anyways.

Do NOT touch the platters.