Data Recovery: Hard Drive Platter Swap in Our Lab!

[@XnoobSteve]

Do you do liver transplants?

[@TCRSCircuit]

Not sure if Louis does, but we can fix your pacemaker in chest for 29.99!! No Pulse, No Fee! lol ;)

[@TCRSCircuit]

Yes we will include a complimentery Magnetometer swap lol..

[@XnoobSteve]

$29.99 in UK money is a month's wages these days otherwise I'd consider it!

[@x_ph1l]

He sure will soon... with a scotch tape!

[@michaltutak7452]

Ummmm.

[@robertweiss4171]

This 5 year old video came in really handy for me. I have a USB drive with the same issue of the platters not spinning. I bought a donor drive with a dodgy controller PCB and am going to attempt a platter swap. The use of scotch tape was valuable to me as I never gave a thought to platter alignment. This video has now given me a chance to save a friends photos. Thanks for keeping the old videos available.

[@TheRedSatan10]

How is it going?

[@EnragedSephiroth]

Wondering the same. How did the endeavor go?

[@jada1173]

Me too, you really need a dust free environment to do this.

[@MoemnBagdady]

0:52 As a tech employee for 10y now I had only one experience with working with a boss who will appreciate the hard worker and give positive feedback. on behalf of everyone thank you for give credit to your employee.

[@Natervader13]

This is more entertaining than 90% of TV. I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

[@anjalishakya7194]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6ukZXpmarqXZpYsi=2evdYm9VTNXKUi0g

[@yourdadsbuyingmilk]

I was also edging my seat to help it finish. It busted on my whole coffee table. (In game ofc)

[@AlmightyGunz]

I know this is an old post, but I waited 2 years to learn as much as possible to salvage my files for a novel I was working on. I had about 60,000 words that were lost and I went ahead and purchased a used tunnel system this past month. I then got a hold of a new donor HD (luckily, it was a single platter). I was able to carefully pull the parking break and get the heads out of the way and gently pull the platter. Yes lol, I used tape to pull up the center platter very carefully. Once I landed the platter into the new donor housing and sealed it. I recovered 99.3% of my data. You guys rock. I'm sort of stubborn and like to learn stuff myself. So I took the time to do this myself because I wasn't willing to risk additional impact or having too many hands touching it. I also did not want to risk sending this via mail and risking the package getting lost. So... Thank you for inspiring me to grow and expand my knowledge.

[@AlmightyGunz]

@JimboParadox lol. It was my first time, and potentially the last time. Unless I bump into another writer with a similar story ; )

[@AlmightyGunz]

@JimboParadox Yes; it was a Word doc. And out of Alllll the dozens of useless Word doc files I had backed up, that specific one never synched with OneDrive successfully lol. I usually keep 3 data locations as good contingency. We all learn : ) I would say do it! Practice with a drive that doesn't have critical data. And don't drink coffee before the procedure : )

[@chris01479]

​@@AlmightyGunz I have got questions. Will it work if I swap the head using the same model, size, first 3 digits of serial number and same firmware version? If it will work, can I use hddsuperclone to clone the hard drive or I still have to use PC3000??

[@AlmightyGunz]

@@chris01479 if all you are swapping out is the head, you shouldn't have any issues. It's when you have to to swap platters into another shell that it gets a bit complicated and can be easily corrupted (the process). Just make sure you try not to make any contact with the platter, even slightly. Wear rubber gloves to prevent any potential static passing through, or use non-static conducting tools. Take your time and be super patient.

[@chris01479]

@@AlmightyGunz oh great, but there is a problem. How do I know if there is any scratches on the platters? The data recovery firm told me in years ago that my hard drive had alot of corrupted and they can't find no more than 10GB which they should have recover at least 40gb or 50gb. That data recovery firm is well known as scammers. Should I contact them and ask them if there is scratches on the platters, what they do and how they recovered my data?

[@Mikefngarage]

Real repairman are a dying breed. keep up the good work. Most people just want to get paid and not do the work. Keep it up you guys. teach train and expand. this is what youtube is all about. Hope these are monitized and doing well for you guys in the high rent district. you should move to CA and enjoy the nicer weather here and a bit cheaper than Manhattan.

[@rossmanngroup]

Thank you!

[@aorusaki]

facts!

[@two_owls]

Not sure lazy people are a new phenomenon, but repair is certainly something companies don't want you to do - they'd rather you just buy newer junk!

[@НевенИванов]

You people are tech surgeons of now days, keep it that way and be proud of yourself (you suck as a camera man but this is not important)! Greetings from sunny Bulgaria 🇧🇬

[@tonytrilex2555]

Who said CA is cheaper what are smoking? CA isn't cheaper San Fransisco is the most expensive in the nation

[@jerrysimpson3239]

Enjoyed viewing the video and watching the swap out of the platters. I've been computer tech since the early 70's and it's amazing how much has change in the way of packing data on a platter and now totally different technique with packing data on a SSD or flash drive. Repairing and doing alignment of hard drives is something I've have done for many years. In the early days the disk drives were very large, maybe size of a dishwasher one could say. The platters were about 14 inches across and there might be as many as 10 platters with 20 read/write heads as could write on both sides of the platters. Many of the drives then had user swap out disc platter assembly where all were housed in a container so the customer could have several disc platter containers and only a few disk drives where as certain data was needed the platter assembly would be mounted / installed into the drive. Sometimes the platter assemblies would get bump or even dropped by the user or when mounting would bump against the disc heads causing miss-alignment. This is where I would be called as would have to repair the disc platter assembly or replace one of the read write heads and then sometimes only have to do alignment of the heads. Since there were several heads from top to bottom each one had to be in alignment with each other so an alignment pack would be installed which contained several different signals recorded onto the pack. Using an oscilloscope and multiple channels of input I could realign the heads and also align where the heads would move in and out within the pack correctly. The adjustments was done in micrometers using a special tool along with the scope all being done by hand and being very careful. A friend of mine who was to me like a mentor also did the same type of work and many times we would both get called in to do this type of work. He at one time work at NASA doing the early Mercury and Apollo missions. Sometimes we would have fun contest to see who could get their alignment the closest to being zero on with no plus and minus offsets. By the way even the new drives were similar as the older ones which required the air flow over the heads to allow smooth movement and from being damaged by touching the surface of a platter. On the drives I worked on the distance between the read / write head and the surface of a platter which I had to adjust was smaller than the thickness of a thumbprint. This is why the air filter and clean room is needed when working on these as even a smoke particle from someone smoking is so large that it could crash the head of a disk pack platter. So from someone who been doing hard drives repairs say for many years I so appreciated to see your work talent and how careful you were in doing the repair. Another trick which sometimes work is placing the drive into a freezer for a few moments when data is not readable but the platter will turn. Works better with floppy discs more so than hard drives as it gives a temp repair which can last several minutes, long enough to recover data if lucky. The scotch tape trick is really amazing at how well it work considering how tight the tolerances are between any movement left to right in relationship to the platter below or above. I would say that most likely there will be some slight movements but thanks to the ECC circuits in the drive it can correct majority of the data that might have issues and why sometimes when looking at the sector map it might show one of the heads having issues as could be the error is greater than what the ECC can handle when doing corrections. I have used similar sector maps on floppy disc many years ago when recovering data off floppy disc and getting around encryption of data. How things have change but happy to see there are techs such as you are want to learn that skill and even find ways to be creative in doing the repairs.

[@shusthoprithibichaisundorz4546]

Owo

[@thestraightpipe]

Loved your story man! Thanks for sharing, it was an interesting read.

[@raywebb2415]

Good Job!!! I did hundreds of these back in the day. A couple of tips: after you heat the bearing, try using a #6 torx and turn the platter stack back and forth with the spindle screw. Apply slight downward pressure. I have loosened up many bearings this way and did not have to do the platter swap. Next, try not to fumble with screws over the platters, as dropping a screw on the platter can cause a small ding resulting in an "ecc" on that area. Many of you small time guys do better work than some of the big companies out there. Keep on trucking!

[@kikia-z5n]

Hey do i really need to find the exact specs of harddisk for a donor? Like the size of harddisk etc

[@cartossin]

The tape trick is incredible. A few years ago, I watched a talk from the head of a decent size data recovery house and he said it was impossible to keep them aligned.

[@LEXTHE4]

"You should conserve tape, that shit's expensive" Classic boss thing to say ahah

[@jeddhernandez]

classic stu!

[@anjalishakya7194]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6ukZXpmarqXZpYsi=2evdYm9VTNXKUi0g

[@leonkernan]

nice work Jason but a word of advise. sack the cameraman

[@avflyguy]

I'm sure glad someone else saw that. Maximum precision of the tech, a 4 yr old on the camera (and audio) -- Otherwise, very interesting.

[@shirley556]

i agree, nice work but the camera man really aggravates me to the point of screaming. He needs to get a job holding a street sign. otherwise could be a good video

[@AboveEmAllProduction]

@@shirley556 louis rossman is the camera guy.

[@DrEtzor]

@Richard A Irwin Jr The moment when everywhere you go and you see someone saying a joke; > Someone says a joke > Someone else has to explain that it was a joke > A third person has to say that it was a joke and ruins the joke by explaining it > Fourth person does the same as the third. > Ruined.

[@lollllloro]

@@DrEtzor It isn't a joke, it's about someone's income.

[@thisrocks]

I was similar to that kid in my first IT job out of university. In my second week I stayed back until 12 to finish off and work out their backup process for getting recordings to customers. Didn't ask for overtime and came up with a lot of suggestions, eventually completely reengineering the process. The company exploited my enthusiasm and curiosity. Please reward this guy in a way that harbours his curiosity.

[@Skandalos]

Im not sure who exploits whom more. The company the enthusiastic newbie, or the newbie the company that gives him the chance to learn stuff (and mess stuff up in the process) he could never learn anywhere else. I never had any regrets. I just left when I found something better, with no hard feelings.

[@OskarNendes]

Amazing. The new era of hardware fixing will kick off all the unprofessional persons. Absolutely will. Felt like a surgeon just by watching this.

[@mrainaandroid8208]

Millions of legends really enjoyed this video. Really top notch. Thanks for the upload.

[@stumbling]

Okay, so I've poured scotch on the platter, now what do I do with the tape?

[@Mascoma79]

lick it

[@pentuprager6225]

#IdiotLeftAloneWithKeyboard

[@chuckgilly]

Put a 2.5 inch strip on your forehead, then sing Kumbaya, problem fixed, now recover data. You are welcome.

[@PinoyDubbedMaster]

Now get a bigger tape, like packing tape. then put it on your mouth :D lol haha just kidding :D

[@tomleahy5383]

Add Ice and put yet feet up. Pour another shot, cheers!

[@jabowa]

Puts things to a whole new level when it comes to right to repair.

[@ourflagismined4129]

That canned air stuff. Can't tell from the video exactly what brand or part # he's using, but word of advice to everyone here: the bittering agent they put in that shit (so that kids don't huff it) loves to stick-to and create a micro film on whatever you're cleaning..If you contact the manufacturers directly, they usually have a model with no bitterant in it, and for the same price as the regular cans. Only catch is that you've gotta buy it in bulk (depending on whether you consider a ~12 can case of them to be bulk). Well worth it though, and if you're using it regularly you're gonna go through 12 cans eventually anyway (in 6-24 months for me). Kids and coddling ruin everything... After 2 bad experiences with films of bittering agent being left behind on stuff after cleaning, I refuse to use the store-bought stuff any more. If you're just cleaning keyboards, go hog-wild with the stuff from the store. But for optics, sensitive electronics, and anything you're gonna be using for high-purity solvents, fuck that stuff so hard. I don't remember which brand I use, but I doubt it matters, best guess is that most of the brands probably carry a version without a bittering agent. FWIW, I live in the US. If you live in another country, maybe you're lucky and can still buy the good stuff in stores, or without having to jump through hoops. Also, a side note (since this post is already long, and since the scaremongers that created this problem in the first place never actually know what they're talking about). The deal with the danger from huffing it, seems to be that it increases cardiac sensitivity to adrenaline. Meaning the jolts of adrenaline that would normally be perfectly safe (for instance, the adrenaline you get when something scares you), carry an increased risk of causing a dangerous or fatal arrhythmia. Beyond that, it doesn't seem to be any more dangerous than other anaesthetic inhalants; in that if you breathe them in high concentration, you can suffocate yourself by not getting enough oxygen. And just so there's no confusion, this stuff isn't dangerous for general use -- it's only in high concentrations (like if you huff it directly) and with large amounts of adrenaline that it even starts to carry any risk. That's why they're able to safely sell it at pretty much every major store. If I had to guess, I'd say that 99% of why they added a bitterant to it here, is because parents don't want their kids huffing it to get high. And when you consider how many thousands of kids have done exactly that, and not died, you've got nothing to worry about if you're using it for its intended purpose. You can dig up the research if you're interested; it's buried in medical journals and safety reports. I just felt that for once someone should spread some honest information about air duster. And for exactly that reason -- because the real facts are always buried in medical journals and further obscured by scared parents; who then go on to ruin things for the rest of us. Congratulations if you actually got this far in reading this; it turned out to be a bigger block of text than I was expecting.

[@rossmanngroup]

If I call up and ask for canned air with no bittering agent, will I be put on a list? :X

[@Prometheus720]

Louis Rossmann You're already on a bunch of lists, bud.

[@TheOriginalEviltech]

Why the fuck would they put bittering agent in it? It's just harmless gas! That's just fucked up man...

[@BodenM]

To stop people from inhaling the propellant

[@Outfrost]

@Robert, the "compressed air" you get in those cans is not actually air :)

[@ram0166]

So in all these years of producing hard drives not one manufacturer thought to develop physical systems like pins that align the discs or replaceable bearings?

[@enchantededition6879]

SSD?

[@ram0166]

@@enchantededition6879 I’m talking about the mechanical drives that are now on their way out

[@imrevadasz1086]

Why? That would only ever help in data recovery. It doesn't make sense to optimize hard drives for data recovery, when the same effort could be used to improve reliability.

[@danharcombe6569]

Would throw out balance if uneven. 7200rpm. But could be done if offset 180 degrees. Major cost increase for them compared to making balanced discs without indexing.

[@DebjyotiGhosh04]

​@@enchantededition6879রূরদর্ফ 8😅dkpppowpppo😅rpppoepoeorpo2

[@XcaliburReborn]

This was insanely informative for me. Whenever I hear a sound like that I always assume it's the actuator thats stuck. Sometimes the magnets that hold the actuator in place and level can get knocked slightly out of alignment when the drives suffered a hard impact. It's really cool knowing that drives had bearing fluid. I wouldn't have even suspected that.

[@Spector_NS5_RD]

anyone else cringe when he was spinning the platters with those sharp pointy metal tweezers? "oops i slipped", lol. good video.

[@whatevernamegoeshere3644]

It was a donor anyways but still

[@jaguarke069]

He did it on the data platters as well; Also had a 'don't do that' moment :)

[@milkagem]

no, just you, because you're a special snowflake

[@radeemer1]

I cringed a bit too, then considered that I would do the exact same thing myself, while thinking, "huh, I probably shouldn't be doing this."

[@humbughumbughumbug]

Yes but no. Doing that could maybe spin off any dust (as unlikely as there would be dust) between the platters?

[@MrZorbatron]

There was also a trick that worked on some Toshiba 2.5" drives who weren't hard seized. You can heat and cool to remove the bearing cover (little 4-5mm round circle) in the bottom of the spindle motor. You could then add a couple of drops of a light lubricant to the bearing and then replace the cover and heat the bearing unit. Power the drive on while heated, and listen to it sounding almost like new. The agitation in the fluid from the spinning motor will mix the new and old lubricants, preventing the old oil from drying out again. This will give your drive a new lease on life, at least for a few days, which is more than enough to retrieve the content. Obviously do not put the repaired drive back into service. This used to work quite well on the 8025GAX in particular, who had a much larger issue with seizing than the 8025GAS.

[@macrossactual]

The magnet on the shaft of the screw driver tip was worth the price of admission. I'm embarrassed to not have thought of that in my 43 years on earth. Thank you, gentlemen!

[@Atelier_Haserot]

its a great trick, if you have a mini screwdriver or tip set, but an old HD magnet up against them and they get magnetized even after the magnet is gone ;) SDF-1 4 ever

[@hddrecoveryservices]

3:34 woohoo!!! shot out :) man, this was really well done, and cool to watch. I must admit watching others do the work you do is really addictive. Congrats

[@hellterminator]

Love your channel, mate! Thanks to your videos I was able to recover photos from a damaged micro SD card.

[@tompeters4234]

Its good Jason gives you a shout out :D Louis slams 'not going to speed it up and play some fast techno music playing'. That was pretty low of Louis.

[@pentuprager6225]

Edited how many times and what was changed. Thumbs down edits. Can be edited again and again.

[@ucupi]

erkins here too..:)

[@jandonker3587]

From what I understand ( from a Western Digital manual I read 25 years ago ) is that the platter alignment is not that critical. It's just that you don't want to have to wait a full rotation for the sector you want to read when you switch from one platter to the next. There might even be software out there that can help you adjust the alignment.

[@dobrin.ivanov]

so are you saying deviation is ok but small and only in one of the directions?

[@tonyonofrio1147]

Love this video. I have taken dead drives apart just for fun so I know what they look like inside. Never knew (or realised)about the heads and the head comb. Love the tape solution, simple and effective for a quick swap over. I've recovered data from many dying drives for customers at an OS level. Many taking days to copy all the important data files off the drive. This is next level precision work. Obviously Jason is dedicated and enjoys doing this kind of work, good on him and you for recognising this.

[@Thorpe]

Please stop putting off that backup folks.

[@rossmanngroup]

People can back things up once PC3000 & laminar flow bench paid for themselves!

[@doc.voltold4232]

Louis Rossmann if I may ask, how much do you charge for data recovery that involves playing on a donor PCB or more serious shit like this platter swap?

[@rossmanngroup]

+Doc. Volt $400-$950.

[@doc.voltold4232]

Louis Rossmann I definitely charge too little.

[@Thorpe]

Louis Rossmann Nobody needs to endure the torture of what I've just seen! Scotch tape madness.

[@7markhunter]

Laminar flow cabinet, then taped up mouse hole from Atomic Wings... lol made my friggin day.

[@rossmanngroup]

We're winning! Atomic Wings is closed! Mice have nothing to eat and have left.

[@x_ph1l]

Hey Louis, about anti-static mat grounding clamp: it is very unlikely that that crocodile will reliably pinch through powder coating or any good quality painted surface. I've been bitten by this once - the contact seemed to be good, but it wasn't. PS. Thanks a lot for this video, I've learned a ton!

[@MiscRocketVideos]

Very cool to see. Great to see the level of detail you provide. I'll never try it myself, but it was fun to watch. Also, very good to give a shout-out to a high quality employee!

[@jasonheckenlively1172]

Was eating a Reeses while watching this and realized I was subconsciously being super-careful not to drop any crumbs.

[@chileanguyfleegman]

Jason Heckenlively this is hilarious! 😅

[@ARNOLDFALCON]

😂😂😂

[@Robert-jz7hq]

BBQ ribs here, and never have I been so unnecessarily tense.

[@SK-ob3hn]

😂 😂 😂

[@GrantsPassTVRepair]

Excellent video. I destroyed a hard drive by not using a head comb. I wish I had seen this video first.

[@rossmanngroup]

I always want to teach through remembering the mistakes!

[@holocaust_2.0]

Have dead drives handy, because you might not get the head comb right the first, or second or maybe even more tries.

[@MHassanMehdi]

me too :(

[@SnekSnack]

Also, dont they short out - When they touch?

[@Slickbackago]

Same here 🙁 I wish I saw this earlier

[@TheTraumaFactor]

Once again Louis, you've provided us with exceptional content and delivery. This was not only interesting, informative, comprehensive, but also addicting to watch. I mean cmon... the scotch tape was the MVP of this recovery. who would have thought!?!?!?

[@anjalishakya7194]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6ukZXpmarqXZpYsi=2evdYm9VTNXKUi0g

[@bigsky1970]

"Fast techno music", the bane of KZbin help videos.

[@Every-thing-it]

amazing patience and dexterity that guy has! Awesome video, thanks so much guys!

[@johnmoreton459]

The alignment is electronic, done when you format the drive, so when you remove a platter from the stack end of alignment. So when you want to recover those platters on the drive with critical data, any way you save that alignment should work, love the scotch tape idea works great. The reason for the head comb is that those heads are preloaded, when the platters rotate the air flow allows the heads to float over the platter surface. I have worked on hard drives for many years except that mine were much larger.

[@geogan2]

How do you keep the alignment then if you didn't hear of the tape method? Is there some better pro method?

[@serendipitydoctorxqy6122]

"reading at the speed of a dead SSD" Got me cracked up. My fully functioning Geo Metro drives like a new mercedes that someone crashed into a wall.

[@ThePhantomSafetyPin]

I know exactly what that thing you're working in is called. It's a Bio-hood, it's a type of sterile fume hood that is used as a clean space. Biologists and people working in medical labs use them to keep things sterile while doing stuff like plating, transferring specimens to vials, and the like. My lab I work in uses ours to transfer body fluid and spinal fluid to smaller containers for testing. I didn't know repair shops for computers also used them for tasks like this!

[@MikkoRantalainen]

I find it really interesting that the tape was good enough for this. It looked like it barely had enough stickiness to stay on the side of the platter and you only have one try while moving the platterns. If the tape fails mid-air, you data is gone forever. I'm also surprised to find that laminar airflow box was good enough for this job. How about more recent HDDs having e.g. 6 TB in a single 3.5" drive?

[@A-G-F-]

Graphene was literally discovered with the stickyness of the scotch tape, that thing is the greatest thing ever invented

[@MElixirDNB]

the two pieces of tape are spread over some half of the entire circumference, its unlikely it would lose grip on the whole thing at the same time. youre being paranoid. also, blasting a small amount of air would get rid of most dust. the point is to recover the data, not make this a long term use drive again

[@sharpeguns1]

I've learned so much. I'm a newly geek. I'm 60 years old. My business is Horology, Gemology, rare coins, gold , silver, gunsmith, machinest, . I had many companies, deli, grocery. Manufacturer, trucking co, rescue diver and tour guide. Lol. This has been alot of fun. My biggest challenge is making my own tools.

[@geraldfleming2810]

Hi Jason & Louis, Well done Jason. Fine work.It puts HDD repairs into perspective. I wish you and your fellow New Yorkers strength in adversity and victory in your perseverance.

[@EazyDuz18]

Pointless tutorial, too many expert specialist tools. Scotch tape wtf is that where do I get it?

[@meme-lu2yu]

Scotland

[@yorumcuturk]

You lucky they have donor hard drive. Otherwise, there are more works !!!!

[@oddity4650]

@@yorumcuturk for that have s video showing how go fix a hdd with locking doner parts?

[@angelgarcias7328]

My dvr camara put it see the recored saing part no match 1!2 thas saint hard drive it no good or dvr

[@Dexter101x]

I could have fixed my drive had I had the right tools and donor drive at the time

[@pyromethious]

As great as this is, I thought that with most drives you needed to have donor drives that are essentially siblings (board compatibility) in part because the on-board components help keep track of the data alignment.

[@tonerrr4295]

That is also what I thought but I believe I heard about some way of recalibration for the alignment. I'm not too sure though.

[@DanScottAncientAbandon]

That was amazing work. I'm new to IT but would love to learn more of this kind of stuff. Top notch gentlemen!

[@rmonmndoza1537]

watching videos like this is the cause that i still have many hours front at my pc monitor learning. Guys, you are awesome. thank you so much..

[@James-z6x3u]

You got me started in electronics and now I have a lab. I have to do this for a friend today as a last resort. Great video man. Love your stuff.

[@srideepprasad]

This guy is gifted... And Louis, you are lucky to have him around.. Both of you form a great team together

[@accordingtohonda4308]

You can use a straw (cut into short tubes) instead of the comb. Now you can do this at home without any special tools! :) (yes, this how I did it once... it's stressful)

[@Bman130958]

I call bullshit on that claim

[@Gavichap]

@@Bman130958 Nope. If the straw plastic is thick and rigid enough that trick could work. Good idea

[@castiel7330]

enjoyed every second of that vid. More knowledge! moooaaar! Thanks man you both are awesome!

[@stevenqiu2013]

Same. Guess we are both hungry then. Agreed, both awesome.

[@loonsoondoon]

me three ;) got a graveyard of old drives under my desk... some as old as that Toshiba disk!

[@erhanzeynel]

Emre I didn't see you in Louis's lives for a while.

[@castiel7330]

erhan zeynel yeah I was dealing with signing up on verbal exam to be a teacher lately :) but I see you all the time under vids of Lou :)

[@elsaeed747]

Aaaaaaaaah .... very satisfying video. Well done Jason. Very confident. Actually I like the way Louis showed appropriation for Jason being such a self driven person and said that he’s lucky to have him. Top man, Top team.

[@chileanguyfleegman]

Saeed Sarmadiyan appreciation *, don't think Jason is a slave 😜

[@lesdude02]

From one tech to another...... Your guys ROCK!!! I recognize the steadiness and dexterity...... it takes one to know one :-D ...... Louis, your spot-on in your assessment of Jason! Thank you, thank you....for your videos.... Louis your the best baby..... Jason superb job, excellent operation.... peace, love and soul to you both.

[@jackkraken3888]

side note: If you have damaged hard drives lying around, you can open them up and use the hard drive platters as mirrors and the neodymium magnets for anything that needs magnets.

[@Hostile_Design]

The platters are perfect for setting up the cross polarization for your 3D scans ;).

[@MetalGalacticUnicorn]

I love watching these videos, they are so interesting and really make me want to go into pc hardware repair!

[@coobird]

You guys (I guess the credit goes to Jason!) make it look so easy that anyone could do it! ;) Of course, it's all the hard work that builds up to it that we don't see, and that's where all the value comes from! :) Awesome job, hope to see more!

[@MrArt542]

I bought the same tools with everything direct from China and it cost like $600.00 table for two hard drive swop, platter remover, head remover from 2 up to 4 head.etc etc. I've been doing this for last 12 year's and also have my very own antistatic room zero dust at all. Great job guys.

[@kikia-z5n]

Hey do i really need to find the exact specs of harddisk for donor? Like the size of harddisk and model, i want to do plate swap

[@MrArt542]

@user-jv4se8hi8s I have the same too (As donor) seagate hard drive 2tb with the same firmware, I think is FFCC 27 and I swap the pcb board an the heads will it work...?

[@kikia-z5n]

@@MrArt542 is this a question?

[@MrArt542]

@@kikia-z5n Yes

[@chris01479]

​@@MrArt542wow, that's awesome. I have got questions. If I build a clean chamber with hprea filter, will it work if I swap the head using the same model, size, first 3 digits of serial number and same firmware version? If it will work, can I use hddsuperclone to clone the hard drive or I still have to use PC3000??

[@Exeutiy]

This is by far my favourite channel. I can listen to your videos while doing other things and learning a bunch along the way. Thank you.

[@Ms19651502]

Gonna turn the drive on. The drive: REEEEE EEE EEE REE E EE

[@StefanReich]

You know I oscillate between this and the video of the Japanese cook killing a lobster. Something new to learn every day!

[@nbrown5907]

Damn it I was sitting here watching this getting nervous then realized that's not my drive lol. Nerve wracking work.

[@jenafierro1500]

I think the coolest parts of this channel is really being able to historically track the birth and success of a small business.

[@TheDiamondSquidy]

Thanks for the video, just recently damaged my hdd and needed to do a platter swap, learnt some important stuff i didnt know before

[@joshedagg]

Been getting into board repair pretty heavily and it's been a huge source of revenue for my shop! I'm thinking data will be the next good investment I should look into .

[@trlc768]

Scotch tape got a recent Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery of graphene, Should be good enough for a hard drive!

[@ztoob8898]

I'd like to correct a minor bit of misinformation: The heads are not magnetic, they are pushed toward one another with leaf springs; normally the disk platters hold the heads separated. Those leaf springs are carefully designed to apply just the right amount of downward pressure toward the disk surface. Meanwhile, the heads themselves are shaped to generate lift (like the airfoil on a wing) as the boundary air clinging to the disk surface sweeps under it. The heads "fly" in very close proximity over the surface of the disk, as I'm sure everyone knows.

[@brentpolk2431]

I've seen the tape method before and I'm glad to see it works!

[@shyakajbk]

Nice Job guys. I love that teamwork effectiveness and the cohesion 👍

[@JoseRodriguez-ti2ii]

I learned how to use scotch tap for high tech repairs.

[@pldaniels]

You're going to continue with the tradition of really p*ssing off a lof of pro's and causing them an aneurysm using the scotch tape trick, and I don't doubt you're going to come up with a lot of other "non-pro" methods in the time ahead which will work fine. Bearing swap gear / gigs are out there for $$$$, or scotch tape :D Looking forward to the progress over the course of a few months - excellent :)

[@rossmanngroup]

I can't wait to see the comments on that.... I wasn't aware until we went to record that he is using scotch tape...

[@erhanzeynel]

Wait for the HDD's with scotch tape on data surface of discs. ;)

[@SeptrothFFXI]

Paul Daniels I've seen platens that have a little alignment mark on the edge. Mostly inside western digital drives

[@pldaniels]

I wouldn't like to rely on that visually, would rather hope there would be an laser/sensor driven servo that instead rotates the platter until perfect alignment, definitely not something I'd like to see done by human hands. Not sure why they'd have those interestingly, since from a factory assembly perspective it has no purpose.

[@erhanzeynel]

I know as that alignment starts in HDD's first powerup in factory. Before that powerup, plates are pure blank. If you know old firmware ıssues of stuck on BSY seagate discs and how to recover HDD hardware (on many cases unable to recover data without surgery) that commands may re align the harddisk. Also that alignment isn't depend about any kind of mark.

[@imdoug]

Sorry if I missed it but can it just be any same-RPM IDE two-platter drive that can be used as the donor drive?

[@XSpImmaLion]

You usually need the exact same model, unfortunately... don't trust me, hope for a direct answer. But as far as I know, HDD manufacturing these days can be so diverse that even if you have same number of platters, same capacity and same brand from the same period, they could be made in different factories with different assemblies.

[@stevenqiu2013]

Where did you get that information?

[@pldaniels]

Definitely need the same model drive.

[@loonsoondoon]

f*ck!

[@XSpImmaLion]

Steven Qiu T'was from another HDD repair channel, but I can't remember the specific video right now, sorry. Not 100% sure

[@fiallos1]

That was amazing! No low level formatting here! Just good ol swap out! Amazing times we are living in on the tech frontier!

[@ShamblerDK]

As a guy working with computers repairs, these videos are extremely valuable to me and I might learn stuff that will move me to a higher paygrade. Thank you, Louis. If I ever meet you, I'd love to have a chat with you. Mainly to shake your hand and thank you in person.

[@MepsiPax]

Now do SSD data recovery please

[@rossmanngroup]

For that we use Darkseid's omega beams to read directly from the broken NAND which cannot be captured by consumer camcorders.

[@willynebula6193]

Louis Rossmann lol ill pay that👌

[@TheFPSPower]

how possible is it to recover data from an SSD? Since it's not physically recorded into a metal, I'm guessing there's a low possibility of it happening?

[@willynebula6193]

TheFPSPower if there is a problem with the power supply circuitry in the ssd you have a better chance of recovery but if one of the flash chips is bad then your probably stuffed

[@Mythricia1988]

Actual damage to flash cells is impossible to repair - all you can hope for is to force read the remaining data and hope to reconstruct some of it. But since SSD's basically fragment all data randomly across the entire drive, reading the flash chips themselves is useless - you need the metadata to know how the data is arranged... And, well, you need to know how the metadata itself even works. The latter is generally secret, since it's an integral part of SSD controller design. On the plus side, modern SSD's are considerably more durable than disk drives - the only downside is, as explained above, if the actual flash is damaged somehow.

[@pentuprager6225]

22:43 since when do nuts come unthreaded and needing a screw to hold them in place?

[@digitsdigitsdigits808]

Is curiosity that rare? Figuring shit out is the fun part in my opinion, though admittedly I'm more here for the business stuff than the hardware service stuff. If I don't get that dopamine rush from working something out, it means it's not the job for me. That's why I'm going back to college to be a mathematician. I absolutely love figuring out a novel math problem, using stuff I know to demonstrate a new truth. I don't get that dopamine rush from repairing computers, so I'm not gunning for a career doing it. Is that really something many people don't realize? I wonder how many of them are fucking miserable.

[@rossmanngroup]

Most people I've met barely scratch the surface of life, doing the absolute minimum to feed themselves and not die, with no curiosity about anything that requires learning, confrontation, or work.

[@stevenqiu2013]

"Zombies sleepwalking through life." I wonder if I am a zombie too...

[@merlin2600]

I assure you it is rare. Most people can't be bothered. They just want to do the bare minimum requested to get their money, go back home and watch TV. For a job, I had an interview with a shrink who just couldn't understand that I could be interested in "computer stuff" because there was always more to learn and discover. Having to always learn new stuff seemed completely alien to her... Note that a lot of people also just don't like their job.

[@evilplaguedoctor5158]

Unfortunately I have to agree with Louis, maybe on this channel it's not that rare, but as someone who has tried several times to hire help, I only just this last few months found someone with those traits that I can rely on. (and boy does it ever help a lot!)

[@shapshooter7769]

As for math problems, there are plenty in engineering. For example, building signal filters for signals processing requires crazy s-domain (complex) math that I'm trying to figure out. Fun to read about, but quite a rabbit hole in of itself. If it wasn't then it wouldn't be a profession.

[@johnraser4250]

This will put me on the list: head combs are fascinating, thanks for the cleaning duster warning .

[@davepowell1521]

Brilliant content! And how good of you to let and in fact highlight your employees business!

[@zephyr_]

This video was recorded at 19:30, damn. Guys are working really hard. No rest for those willing to be successful in the tech field I see. This is very motivating in a way I must say.

[@ripbozo941]

"spinning rust" Wendle the legend

[@gnarlin4964]

It's Wendel.

[@ripbozo941]

gnarlin weedle

[@GameOver-rl1xx]

i love how jason has learned to even talk like you Louis lol awesome video keep up the good work!

[@petesapwell]

Give that man a cigar!, brilliant work! so calm and measured. Worth more than your paying him Louis. Seriously a credit, beautifully done. :)

[@huedoppler1]

Very good technician, he has a steady hand. Number ONE

[@uNople]

22:00 all that stress, holy shit

[@JasonCarr1979]

I know. I've watched it a couple times and can't contain myself. I personally think he should have used at minimum 4 pieces of tape.

[@ptrix]

i'll bet that in 3-5 years, Jason could be doing this kind of stuff on hard drives recovered by the FBI for their criminal investigations. he was PRO AF.

[@Haze1434]

I can tell IT is the career for me, as I found this better to watch than porn. Thank you.

[@EddieLoksters]

Haze1434 *then Lol

[@puffolino1]

*than

[@EddieLoksters]

Luca you missed the joke

[@randommofo123]

I don't think an IT company will appreciate you doing work with your pants around your ankles lol.

[@thenerdguy123]

Depends on the IT company.

[@vaibhavbiradar9451]

one thing i have realized watching these videos is repairing is as complex as designing..... hats off guys!

[@alissondamasceno2010]

This is absolutely the best channel on KZbin!

[@redtails]

I admire the workmanship and the knowhow. You don't see this type of component-level repair from a John Doe. I've used one of the those laminar flowhoods; they're originally made to do biomedical research with. And I am willing to bet a lot of your tools such as the tweezers also come from biomedical companies or specifically even surgery tools. That said, I can only advice everyone to get a surgery kit containing tweezers because they are not expensive and are objectively a thousand times better than any hobbyist china shit will ever be.

[@hamzahaytham3940]

32:37 DRD: _Dis Drive Ready_

[@ryan-zp4fe]

Dude I love you vids

[@rossmanngroup]

Thank you!

[@edescrambler]

best video about data recover i ever seen. congratulation and thank you to share this. Eduardo Lavratti from Brasil.

[@mrdingus117]

Awesome video I've learned about internal ide drive components and how to keep heads aligned. But honestly this stuff brings a smile to my face. The majority of people would of told you that the drive is dead no hope for recovery.

[@mistervoice511]

Nice to see a few mysteries and myths of the tricks of the trade revealed,Very well explained, educational and informative. Just a friendly suggestion though....you might want to consider investing in some video editing software and a few camera operator lessons, as there were quite a few long periods where the camera was pointed off in a direction away from the action and/or was greatly of focus. And transitions from the work bench to the Air Science cabinet and back were a tad clunky to say the least. Video editing software would have also allowed you to censor out the disk content on the screen without having to also block out all of the other activity going on in the shot. A well shot and edited video not only makes you and your business look more experienced and professional, it also makes the subject of your video much easier to follow and understand as well.

[@FrobergDK]

ALL his videos are like this. It's really the one frustrating thing about this channel. I imagine a decent camera guy would net a few million subscribers in no time.

[@Lousy_Bastard]

Some people's children.

[@WilliamPetefish]

I've done board level repair on HDDs before, BUT platter swap is beyond me. (for now)

[@eltomas3634]

Nice job. You guys are like surgeons working with blood and guts, minus the blood.I have suggestion that you may want to employ. If you are confident that a bearing has failed or seizing up or is galling, rather than performing this very delicate and time consuming risky procedure, could you just spin the platters with an eternal or booster motor? If you took the dust cover from a donor hard drive and cut a hole in it exposing the hub, could you simply use a high rpm tool such as a Dremel with a small rubber or silicon wheel or similar material and use it to spool up the platters? You would only need to do it long enough to rip the data off. Alternatively, could you make some sort of arbor or shaft that you could then epoxy to the hub and then spin the shaft with a dremel or even use a donor motor from another hard drive. If you were to make a connection between a shaft chucked up in a dremel and a shaft fixed to the platter hub using something flexible such as vinyl tubing, any misalignment issues could be mitigated.Even if you simply took some epoxy putty and mounted a phillips head screw to the center of the bad hub, you could then use a dremel with a Phillips head drive to engage the hub.Just some ideas I came with.

[@DrTune]

you are assuming that the drive rotation rate isn't critical, but AFAIK it very much is. Also bear in mind that cutting any hole in anything anywhere on a HD is likely to produce ruinous amounts of small metal shavings etc

[@redwingblackbird8306]

Two things that I might be concerned about. Using the tweezers to test the spin of the platters, I could see accidentally scratching a platter. Second thing, the watch on his arm, same thing, I'd just be worried about bumping something with it, causing a problem. Pretty cool to see how you go about it, though.

[@ConsensusX]

9:11 Cameraman: "How do YOU know that you're alligning it properly?" Technician: "(chuckles) Oh, well, w- we use Scotch tape". 😃 Cameraman: "Oh?" 🤔😯 Technician: "Yeah" 😃

[@KaeYoss]

2:45 That HDD sounds like an injured seal.

[@novicereloader]

Given the way the fluid acts as bearing lube and seal, you're right.

[@lroy730]

When I tell people a HD is just a magnetic record player , they say no way , I say Way. The Way's have it , just a precision high speed magnetic record player.

[@izicial7469]

It's more like a CD drive than a record player.

[@lroy730]

Well lets brake it down. A spining disc yes all 3 HD CD and Record Phonograph . A Phonograph has a Needle that touches the spinning disc and in the modern Phonograph it uses a Magnetic Cartridge. Does a CD or any Laser Disc use a Magnetic Cartridge or Pickup ? No. Does a HD use a Magnetic Pickup ? Yes it uses Magnetic Heads while they have an Air Gap between them and platters its so similar you could take one of these heads apart and make a Magnetic Needle cartridge . The only similarity between CD's and a Phonographs is the Linear method for recording data, and the for mentioned spinning disc.

[@chanceltw]

You're right and you're wrong. CD player and hard drive both are reading digital bits - a 0 or a 1. Record player, while it uses magnets, is reading a waveform from the record and creating an analog electrical signal.

[@Outfrost]

But one can say that series of 1s and 0s are also a type of waveform that creates an analog electric signal - it's just interpreted differently.

[@lroy730]

Yep now we know the differences , let me rank them in longevity and accuracy . Lets stick to Audio, Hard Drive's have a 96kHz sampling rate compared to CD's 44.1kHz. But for convince and sound I rank CD's higher than HD's because you don't need a computer. While phonographs are analog some still love the wide open sound. But these same audiophiles use noise reduction devices to remove the pops clicks and grindyness of these beloved ancient record players.

[@chrisoakland8036]

3:08 STEVE'S DEAD? NO! NOT STEVE!

[@DevonLadd]

For someone who has come across tons of laptop drives for free experimenting, this is an invaluable resource