st3000DM001 head issues?

Freakazoid

Member
Has a Seagate st3000DM001 that spins up makes a nice sound so spin down again. Can any of you confirm if this is a reading head problem or if there may be something else that mistakes the mistake. Link to the Video
 

lcoughey

Moderator
It almost sounds like it has a stuck spindle and/or stuck heads. It should be inspected in a clean room.
 

Blizzard

Member
If you are sure the motor is spinning then the heads might be stuck in the ramp area. Like Luke said, time to inspect in a clean bench.
 

Freakazoid

Member
Thanks for reply. It may feel like the motor is spinning. Then maybe reading heads is stuck to the ramp.
If reading heads is stuck on the ramp would it be necessary to swap? or can this be fixed?
 

Blizzard

Member
If heads are stuck in the ramp then the drive was probably dropped, hard. They are then most likely bent, if you allow them to get to the platter it could be catastrophic. Also check for cracked/damage ramp. This is all speculation though, you need to take the heads out and inspect them under a microscope. If they are not bent you still need to make sure none of the sliders are missing. If any slider is missing then it's time to play hide-n-seek. Never power on a HDD, even after a head swap, if you can't account for every one of the original sliders.
 

Freakazoid

Member
Blizzard":veoofrq0 said:
[post]12515[/post] If heads are stuck in the ramp then the drive was probably dropped, hard. They are then most likely bent, if you allow them to get to the platter it could be catastrophic. Also check for cracked/damage ramp. This is all speculation though, you need to take the heads out and inspect them under a microscope. If they are not bent you still need to make sure none of the sliders are missing. If any slider is missing then it's time to play hide-n-seek. Never power on a HDD, even after a head swap, if you can't account for every one of the original sliders.

I see, and it make sense.. I found something inside the hdd that could tribe from parking ramp..

"Never power on a HDD, even after a head swap, if you can't account for every one of the original sliders." How do you diagnostic a hdd if not powering on ?
 

Freakazoid

Member
Now I have inspected this in clean room .. I found an orange plastic piece from the parking ramp, between head 2-3 ...
 

Freakazoid

Member
I have one for ST3000 that has fallen to the ground with this result
48407556_2254458141461449_7069093106347409408_n.jpg
Is it worth using a set of heads to get what is possible? I don't know how the other 2 plates look
 

Jared

Administrator
Staff member
With this model and that level of scratches, I wouldn't be very optimistic about getting much data. I know some guys will probably argue me, but these are just the guys who like wasting their time on lost causes.
 

Blizzard

Member
In this particular case I would be surprised if there aren't matching rings on at least one other surface. If you inspect the heads and only the top surface appears to be damaged then you could try, but with that type of damage all surfaces are probably dirty now. When a customer opens a drive and ruins the top surface you have a better chance of recovery than a case like yours with catastrophic failure. Here is an example of a 3TB DM recovery with the top surface damaged because it was shipped with the top cover removed. Over 13,000 files with no errors recovered and 2700 videos that could still be played, with defects.
The DM series seems to be the drive of choice for customers to open and just "have a peek". Some we have recovered without removing the top head, but the one I have mentioned here had to have the top head removed from the donor HSA before we could perform the recovery.
 
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