I opened my hdd so i now want to clean the potentially smudged plate

ian masiyandima

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4
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Zimbabwe
I opened the hdd without knowing that it is not advisable now i am considering to open it again but this i time i want to do it under the right environments and using suitable materials.

I would have taken the drive to a professional data recovery center but the ones in my beautiful country(zimbabwe)will punch a big hole in my shallow wallet.

I am thinking that i should use a plastic box in which i will punch holes in which i will stick my hands to conduct the operation inside the completely covered plastic box.Medical gloves will be stuck into the holes so that i can have them on when conducting the experiment.

I was on microsoft forums when i read that alchohol is a good choice to use for cleaning the plate together with a thin,clean cloth.

Please advise me on any measures i should take when doing this.Are they any changes i should make to the box and which materials can i use.

When i switch the drive on it make a clicking sound every second followed by a longer click in the same second.It is a 5v hatachi hdd 5k500 b-320.it has a 320gb capcity and spins at a rate of 5400rpm.it is a sata 3gb/s made in thailand and i have already violated the warranty.

I am not very worried about the contents because i can always get redownload the staff although saving both the drive and the staff will thrill me.

Please help
 
Opening the hdd and exposing the platters should only be done in a Class 100 clean room. The air within your plastic box will be very dirty. I doubt you'll have luck cleaning the platters with alcohol and a clean cloth, you will most likely scratch the platter surface rubbing it with the cloth.

If you had the right environment, the way to clean it would be to remove the platters from the drive and immerse them in a cleansing bath.

Good luck.
 
Its broken, you should never open a HDD.. if its clicking it means the hardware has failed most likely the reader, the plate wont ever be dirty, as it will not work, that is why it is sealed.

If you can not read the HDD in another machine, bin it and count your loses..

In the future, if you hear clicking, try and back up data (never open or hit it) and buy a new HDD, not worth trying to fix the hardware unless its some sort of special HDD..??

Sorry for bad news. :cool:
 
Its broken, you should never open a HDD.. if its clicking it means the hardware has failed most likely the reader, the plate wont ever be dirty, as it will not work, that is why it is sealed.

If you can not read the HDD in another machine, bin it and count your loses..

In the future, if you hear clicking, try and back up data (never open or hit it) and buy a new HDD, not worth trying to fix the hardware unless its some sort of special HDD..??

Sorry for bad news. :cool:

This.

Unless you were very lucky and careful, the drive is probably toast. Cleaning the platters would be difficult without scratching them or leaving any kind of residue on them after "cleaning". The reader head hovers just above the platters to read/write data to the platters.

For a nice explanation, watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wteUW2sL7bc
 
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