Hard Drive Clicking Beeping Not Detected. Is data recoverable? Clean room inspection.

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[@MasterT1031]

No need to transfer the platters. No data recovery lab do that except for a motor fail. Only need to swap head assembly with a good and compatible one. And than use the right tools to fix firmware issues if any and image the drive. Good luck.

[@grandprime7397]

How to get head Is that universal type

[@grandprime7397]

@@gblargg any other options, can i use same company's different model head. Need Any similarities in size?

[@giornikitop5373]

@@grandprime7397 the disks should be completely identical for the best possible chances. some models use identical heads, but that's generally harder to find out for sure, so an identical disk is a common option for us mere mortals...

[@ucupi]

not that simple still need pc3000...watch erkin hddrecovery

[@TheJazzNL]

That's what I was thinking. Swapping the platters in a multi platter drive has the added risk of misalignment.

[@danielemalagoli2751]

You don't need to swap platters, actually it would be a very bad idea. The only reason why is needed to swap platters is when the motor is damaged. Very likely issue here is "faulty heads". When heads are bad, swap theme from donor drive. Further knowledge are needed to find proper head stack donor and of course practice.

[@CosminCrihan]

Wow, I would really like to see a complete data recovery process with platter swapping and / or motor or reading heads replacement. Thank you for everything you teach us!

[@ErickBuildsStuff]

Watch HDD recovery services KZbin channel. He teaches just like Alex

[@CosminCrihan]

Thanks! I realized I did watch a couple of those already :)

[@Druid_Plow]

Gamers Nexus had a video of a data recovery company tour. They showed some really old drives and much newer ones as well. Was pretty cool seeing how they have a supply of 30-40 year old drives in working condition just to be ready in case someone comes in with really really old stff which apparently happens more often than some may think.

[@stoyantsalev3109]

Before attempting any mechanical parts swap I'd take a close look at the board ( chances are you've done this already :) ) - specifically the contact pads for the head actuator (the other set of pads would be the one for the motor). Any sort of liquid/condensation/oxidation damage would show up there. Some steel brush and IPA (plus a IPA swab on the contacts on the mechanical side) would do the job and in my experience this works way more frequently than it really should...

[@KenShipman]

Drive recovery work is a career all by itself Alex. You would need a vast inventory of mechanisms to truly be able to fix all drives that came your way. I think that type of work is on the decline with the advent of the SSD.

[@higike]

Reading head replacement is a bit more painless, since all plates have to stay in the exactly same position realative to eachother after the transfer, even a small deviation can cause the data to be unreadable. I have the same issue, first I thought it was something on the board that caused the issue, but after testing with a donor board, I get the same results as you do. so I removed the head mechanism. But didn't find any matching one, and I'm not gonna buy a new one for this reason. + you'll need a head comb for the heads not to touch eachother while transferring it to the faulty drive. This is the least painless solution, but you have to cover yourself if you want to do this. Make sure you make the customers know that there's high possibility that the data could be lost even after doing this.

[@jasko.n]

That's true only a 1 foult. The exactly same position is not important with the right tools, you can read the first one and then the second...and .Ake a reconstruction of data with a virtual controller. Like pc3000.

[@Zolga00]

yes very painless

[@ezzeldin101]

The really good thing about you Alex is your honesty with people properties. Big love from Egypt

[@21palica]

Hi, Alex. Diagnosing the faulty part of the drive when these types of issues occur, is not that easy. Sometimes, a simple manual repositioning of the head is needed, as it can move from it's normal position if the hard drive has been hit or dropped. But, changing the platters, as many other people here have said, is a difficult task, as it takes perfect precision in reassembly. I would first try changing the head motor, then every other possible solution, before I'd go venturing into that territory. But, on the other hand, I would very much like to see you fix this hard drive. So, if all else fails, replacing the platters to a donor hard drive could be the only option left. You certainly have the skills and precision in your work to pull it off. And even if you fail, you learn something new...and also make an interesting video. So it might not be a bad idea to post the videos of you practicing the operation, because I'd watch it! :) Keep up the great work!

[@livingwaters7841]

Good advice, did not think they could take the platters from one drive and relocate to a good drive

[@AliMShipleSYR]

HDD header got serial number burned into header, Since new pcb header got deffrent serial it will click, you need pc3000 tool to change header serial or patch the firmware.

[@petercuello1963]

You need PC3000. Most of the time clicking even with a swap you need to check firmware and configuration on the hard drive. Expensive venture but it could pay itself off once you gain the experience in using the tool.

[@Dingo89]

Love watching these videos all the way from AUS. Has given me the confidence to attempt a repair on my Creality Melzi motherboard (albeit, without success. Not complete failure, but it still powers on and does the same as before. Looks like I've got some more investigation to do!). Your "No BS, straight to the point" format is excellent and is thoroughly enjoyable. Keep it up!

[@therealswarvey]

The melzi boards are pretty bad, few design flaws. I repaired mine several times after FETs catching fire, stepper driver failutes, irreversible damage to the temperature circuits and firmware failure. I ended up just building my own board and linking it to an Arduino mega. What problems does yours have? Which firmware were you running? Maybe I can help?

[@Ben79k]

I was under the impression that data recovery shops swap the Head Set, not the platters, due to it being difficult to get them seated with the correct tolerance. they use plastic clips to prevent the heads from being damaged during the swap, which i assume is a specialty part. Good luck with this endeavor.

[@ioannisbalouktsis962]

That would be awesome seeing the process of data recovering in detail. Thanks for the knowledge you offer Alex kind regads

[@xmarxthebox2133]

Do it! Love the mini clean room. Didn't want to devote a entire room at the shop so good alt.

[@jontait1095]

The 2.5" can click if it's not receiving enough power try a sata cable that has 2 usb ports and the clicking stops and usually works

[@Norman_Peterson]

Should call you " the welding surgeon" Another perfect scalpel job, Doc!

[@M0UAW_IO83]

It's easier to swap the head stack than the platters, you *really* don't want to remove the platters unless you have some very special equipment or have the sort of luck that wins the lottery twice, especially if there's more than one platter. Click of death usually means the drive can't read either the embedded servo data or the firmware which is written to the platters. Back in the days of MFM/RLL drives it was so much simpler but the flash chip you swapped has more capacity than many of those drives.

[@claudiotonelli7709]

A great thing about you is the honesty... a very rare thing...

[@Dave-ss5pk]

When transferring platters you need to keep them perfectly aligned by sticking some tape around the edges of both platters for perfect alignment otherwise it will nott read. Do not move any of the platters out of alignment from the other

[@maverickhornet4057]

If a dropped hard drive is clicking and it isn't working anymore, it is likely that the platters, arm or hard drive head were damaged and misaligned from the impact. ... If the head is trying to locate data on the platters and cannot find it, the arm will move back and forth across the platters several times.

[@repeekyraidcero]

Or perhaps a headcrash. Which is irrecoverable

[@codatekalbatek]

The laboratory has a special machine (it is like a CD lector) for reading the plates, it is time for the customer calling one of these laboratory… hello from Italy!

[@DJChol]

Considering that you have a large pile of graphics cards and other devices to be fixed, shoulnd't you leave hard drive recovery to someone else? If you additionally offer HDD repair, this leads to another queue of devices...

[@JesusChrist-sx1lf]

Exactly my thought, the moment the problem wasn't related to a electrical failure/motherboard it should be deemed a no fix. This is a common problem among hard drives and it comes with age, it's called the click of death. The only option is to replace the platter or the reading heads, which is why people specialize in this field cause it's a hassle. Not worth the time for Alex, also considering the stack of items he already has.

[@StarlightStream]

I really appreciate the diversity of content on this channel

[@Jason-zh7wo]

Practice first, would be great to see you continue the data recovery on this 👍😀

[@Equilibrier]

I think you should learn this, and include it in your business; you already do so much stuff and with this also you will round up your data-recovery services very well. And we would also be glad since you may then teach us too in your videos ;).

[@stefanlechner]

Oh that could be interesting yes. I would love to see how you get this harddrive fixed. That would be awesome. And yes your need the right tools for that. Thank you for the video. Greets

[@calvinmientke3539]

For the education, I tear everything apart. Yes, try to fix a drive or two With the amount of repairs you have, getting into drive repair would require a proper work ROOM and a dedicated tech. Find a good shop for referral.

[@handyguy4814]

its pretty doable, what you need is already in your shop, torx screwdriver, cleanroom, glove, mask, and thats it. the only things that make it hard, you need to be careful not to touch the platter face, if scratched could end up with bad sector/corrupted data/lost some data. With your skill im pretty confidence it could be done. keep up the good work

[@sharkskinboy]

Great attitude, don't let a problem beat you, turn it into an opportunity!

[@DanielImmanuel2143]

Hi Alex, this is complex business. I believe you can do it. But remember that you are dealing with microns. If the harddrive has been dropped the stylus arm will have been distorted. They probably use laser alignment at western digital or Seagate. I'm trying to fix a Panasonic video recorder that is studio grade and I can no longer get the heads. I'm going to use a digital caliper tool and record the measurements before taking it apart. It's precision work. So good luck...

[@bussssta7592]

OMG THANK YOU, MY INSPIRATION IS SO HIGH RIGHT NOW, I AM ABOUT TO SEND YOU MINE WITH A DUPLICATE SO WE CAN GET MY FILES BACK

[@rgodhnia]

Thank you sharing the information its, I had the same issues. I kept the platter change the partial mechanical assembly and it worked and still working

[@TheThore]

This "feature" is called "click of death". In many cases you cannot restore the data then. If the plates get shifted, you might also lose data. You might try to swap the reading head instead of the plates. So no shame if you blow it, it is indeed a difficult job which is not always working.

[@nbrettoner]

Yes practice away. We like seeing you demonstrate perfection. 😇🥰🤠

[@Clarkarty]

Stick to what you are already so good at, no need to complicate things.

[@syedusama1546]

Alex it help you and us to learn new things and usage of new tools.

[@JLCPCB]

Thank you for everything you teach us! 😁

[@avilashroy4336]

i want to see the complete Data recovery process, go for it and Best of luck

[@kyalanis]

Wow.... I always got the clicking broken had, will be interesting to find how to fix it... If I were you I shall practice on the broken had first... Recovery lab trade secrets... Perhaps this is the most valuable video of you successfully showing how it is done... Good luck Alex. Watching your videos from Malaysia

[@geraldgomes]

Thanks for the video. I've seen this problem before. Good to know why it's happening.

[@ShaifulSykes]

Good luck !

[@Rodox2k10]

Hell yea go for it. One more skill to learn means one more job type to cover. I'd love to see you practicing and videoing the process through and through but I do understand that'd be way too much to fit in your very busy schedule. Keep up the great work.

[@raiderman28]

Great video

[@uzairakram6074]

I have become half a professtional electronic repair person just by watching your videos

[@MrKillswitch88]

My guess is a dead head pre amp (the chip on the flat flex attached to the heads) so you could swap out the bad assembly and try again as a dead pre amp will result in the drive controller not having signal from the heads.

[@Uneke]

Transferring platters, you need to keep the readers separate, or you’ll bend them trying to separate them (magnets), then line the platters up exactly (down to the mm). I usually use tape on the edges to line up the platter to the next platter, makes it easier for dual platter hdds. Other than those two things, it’s really really easy.

[@loadedfry2.089]

Go for it Alex

[@MasterMobileKotri]

good job alex

[@toyamaylo9494]

i was watching other video of you when this one notif 😊

[@AhmedHasan-li1mi]

Good 👍

[@TheLebaneseGuy]

Offcourse u should start experiencing that im from lebanon thank u for all videos

[@chandramohannandanpawar2617]

Looks very tidious work. But do try. See if head assembly is replaceable. I used to do it for blur ray machines.

[@YEH-]

The problem is: not scratching platters while removing housing parts, It needs special tools as far as I know, but your level of craftsmanship is superhuman so It might be the perfect challenge.

[@swoopulater]

i've been down this road before tried it once precision is the key, all it takes is for the head on the arm to touch the platter and it's 'game over'. The heads are very sensitive and have to be spaced perfectly. the reason the arm keeps jogging back and forth is it is trying to park itself but is not reading correctly so it keeps resetting, most likely because the head on the arm is likely damaged OR the sensor on the arm position is damaged and cannot detect the position so it keeps searching back and forth for the home position. At least this is my guess....

[@new-knowledge8040]

Yes. In the "Time's Arrow" episode, Data had lost his head for 500 years, yet once reached to his body, he was up and going once again.

[@Santiago-je5ki]

oh please start doing this, i have a hard drive that i want to get recovered, but i think i would only trust u to do it

[@marcellachine5718]

There are many great data recovery centers out there. It usually costs a lot. However when the information to you is valuable, what's money.

[@kintag4459]

جزاكم الله خير وجعلها الله في ميزان حسناتك

[@mehhoona8699]

I hope you are going to do the transfer of the platters and do a full data recovery. My brother has a harddisk sitting on the shelve for over 3 years now with family photos that he cannot access . A lot of clicking sounds can be heard. So if you are able to fix it i will sent the harddisk to you. Seeing forward how this video turns out.

[@sallybundock1179]

Send your hard drive tosomeone who has the correct tools and proven experience to recover your data. If the data is valuable to you then pay the professionals. Alex is being foolish by attempting to delve into hard drive repair whilst having so many outstanding jobs in the shop with no one with his skills to support him.

[@marcellachine5718]

@@sallybundock1179 I absolutely agree. There are many data recovery houses out there. It's very costly in most cases, however if the information on the drive is valuable enough, what's money?

[@KarhamPaints]

Practice! it would be awesome too see it applied

[@peterdavid9636]

This happens to me customers asking me for the old broken parts to give them back what crazy customers.

[@bluetuscani5607]

This is gotten very interesting 🤔

[@TomsTechRepair]

I've done a few of these and just changed the head. It's not always successful. Practice is the key. If customer is indeed 100% needing data they have to pay the huge price data recovery centers pay. If they would like it but if it goes it goes then worth having a go to keep costs down. Needs to be from identical drive as changing head to smaller or bigger can have issues with compatibility.

[@realtv7316]

good job.boss

[@hameh_chiz_az_hameh_jah5728]

plz plz plz make more videos about this subject 🌹

[@chinnarao326]

Resp Sir! Very Nice Class Sir. Sir My Hardisk Clicking Sound and Not Read Sir and One Hard Disk was Hard Disk PCB Very Heated and Not a Spinning Sound. How to Repair Sir. Sir Ur Vedios I am Seeing Sir. Somany Kanowledge Gain Ur Vedios Sir. Iam Telugu Language Sir. Iam Very Intersted Chiplevel Training Sir. Iam Edected Electronics Field Sir. Ur Vedios With Iam Learning Sir. Thank U Very Much for U Sir. -- ChinnaRao Paderu Visakhapatnam District, Andhrapradesh, India.

[@XiJinPingChinaWale1]

Sir you are a master i watch every video laptop hdd related video

[@carloscollomps1552]

Once i had to transfer the platter from a damaged HDD to another to transfer data, while still keeping the "donor" HDD intact and in working order after the procedure. I did it in my car repair shop with some basic safety precautions.

[@bones1225]

Kewl vid once again. Ta. Advice ? You go down the rabbit hole for 24 hrs plus and we get to enjoy the fruits of your labour in less than 1 hour. What part doesn’t make sense?🤣

[@Dracula.25]

Data recovery is the most thing that make me scared just by looking at it 😂😂

[@Mr.Nabil.Belhaj]

It's probably a reading head failure, transferring disk platters is a tricky job you need to keep them perfectly aligned as they were on the donner drive and it's a 50/50 chance it would work.

[@pablonunez194]

You should do what you like... hard drives are still used but it is a market that is disappearing with the arrival of the solid disk. You're bound to have a ton of hard drives to repair.

[@iicei2]

Gg for the hard drive

[@alialshams1043]

nice Vedio ☮️👍

[@hazomahazem9624]

Good work my friend

[@Spencer1609751]

Hell yeah I want to see More!

[@tommy13t]

The chips you put on the donor board made the clicking sound again. The only time the clicks happened were with the original chips on the original board and the original chips on the donor board. The head is fine.

[@chotuusian4127]

Good work

[@davidbasara6162]

I have a Seagate 2.5 inch 3 platter 1,000GB (not to be confused with 1TB) drive I'm working on and I've honestly replaced EVERYTHING physically. I've delicately placed the platters into a new drive shell to utilize a new motor, swapped the reading head, swapped the lower and upper magnets, swapped the motherboard. The drive spins up, the head reads to the center slowly and then goes back to the outer disk a total of 10 times and then spins down. The entire time the drive is not readable. Should I purchase a molex adapter to attempt a firmware flash or something?

[@ltan888]

It'll be a very delicate process to replace the head or the platters. You'll need a head comb to replace the head and dedicated jigs to replace the platters. Without these, the failure rate is almost confirmed.

[@JatinVermaIndia]

Why transfer platters? Can't you swap the reading head itself?

[@atesin_dj]

in 3:54 ... i can see a tiny solder ball in destination L350 component, below the "0", not present in the source board i am not experienced in soldering, i just have an acute vision, am a little obsessive and got luck

[@rfr653]

good job mate.

[@razaraj7573]

Do this if u have good equipment and lots of videos on KZbin about hard drive repairing ✌🏻

[@nikolaskallianiotis8622]

Before swaping platers I would try first to read the flash chips and then check if Service Area (SA) of the disk is somehow damaged. This is a special area on the platers where part of the HDD firmware is written. If this area is damaged, data recovery is very difficult even by using proffesional tools. Connect it to a PC using it's SATA interface (if it's exposed on the PCB with a standard connector) and check how the HDD presents its self to the BIOS. If you see some strange name or characters then chances to have bad SA or flash chips are very high.

[@TheHeisenberg1970]

Isn’t this cleanroom device sucking air through the filter from above and blowing it out downwards towards the device? Otherwise the dirty air in the normal environment would contaminate the device on the working surface.

[@mobgripchamanrogue]

I love your stuffs

[@kulibo1]

Oooh, when you swap the boards, the clicking stopped. I thought you will say that it is something wrong with the firmware. Cause if it was something wrong with the reading heads, shouldn't it still click with the new board ?

[@RafalScrapper]

cool hdd plater replacement could be fun i guess tough some specialised tools need to be involved 👍

[@lovegod628]

Sir, you should give it a try. Who knows same problem you may face tomorrow.

[@unnamedchannel1237]

Always have 3 copies . One working copy on computer . Back up on a drive you keep away from your house . One copy in he “cloud”

[@mehdi7136]

thanx for great videos

[@Harmonichavenphb]

in addition to changing the platters, in some cases you must also change the BIOS chip from the main HD to the donor HD.

[@robbirobson7330]

you can transfer the heads, i did this a lot, i build my own plastic tools with a straw and some plastic strips glued together to slide under the head so the heads do not stick together, if that happens its game over. you first take out the damage head stack and put it aside. then when you remove the working heads you directly place it into the drive without putting them anywhere else because they get damaged very easily. after you transfer the heads its very likely they are not aligned correct with the tracks on the platter, the bigger the hard disk the more difficult it is. you can unscrew and screw back the screw of the headstack and if you are lucky you get a point where it starts reading. then you use linux and ddrescue to do a direct clone to another hard disk. if you lucky and it starts copying dont interrupt it and let it run as long as it goes. it may hang once in a while and you need to reconnect and play with the head screw again until you can copy more. unfortunately i had only success with hard drives up to 1tb. with bigger disk the tracks are too small and its very hard to get the right position.

[@chris01479]

Wow, that's awesome, have you been replaced the heads from the donor drive to the failed drive and clone it using with ddrescue to clone it to another drive? Did it work??

[@robbirobson7330]

@@chris01479 yes you need a donor drive the same model it can work sometimes

[@chris01479]

@@robbirobson7330 I hope it will work as I already have the working donor drive, so how did you replaced the heads? Did you used the clean chamber with hprea filter??

[@robbirobson7330]

@@chris01479 you can build yourself a small cabinet with plexiglas or some trash bags and connect a vacuum cleaner to it to suck out all the dust and keep it running while you work on it. also get some gloves. As i said in the first post i did not have any luck with 1tb drives and higher. but you can still try. if you have a single platter drive you can swap platters it will be easier but then you need to swap the pcb as well.

[@a.caceres7465]

i would love to see it! i thought that just opening it, it instantly get damaged...

[@pcmobitab]

If the pcb is fine and only the issue is with the head, can we simply replace the head without transferring the bios? 2nd point: if we have to use the donor pcb then can we flash the bios using ch341a programmer and flash it with the old bios's data? Instead of soldering ans desoldering the pbysical bios chips and swapping

[@jassen22]

Very nice tool 😳💖

[@user-un6we3nu3q]

it's a good thing to improve your skills and do something new , i hope one day to see a video that continet a plate transfer.

[@floridaapplemacprosinc.2224]

DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!

[@cjcxyzgamer9474]

Would love to see one. How it's done and if it's practical.

[@XBDT]

Hi Alex, do not swap the discs but swap the heads. I did it before and that works (sometimes) :-)

[@chris01479]

Wow, that's awesome, have you been replaced the heads from the donor drive to the failed drive and clone it using with ddrescue to clone it to another drive? Did it work??