WD1600 Hell Week

[Blizzard]

So this week I am recovering two old WD drives and they are both taking all week
WD1600BB (2004)
WD1600JS (2006)
Some of you might not see too many of these old drives any more, I think I get them still because of the area I'm in. Mostly small businesses around here, not a great economy. The owners typically run the same server for, well, as long as it will run
I expected the BB to be no fun with the alignment issue but, to make it worse, the model was rare. I try not to pay $150 for heads on a 13 year old drive.
What I didn't expect was the JS to be even more difficult to get the alignment right. I have done a number of 2500JS-KS that weren't this difficult. It took some serious outbursts of profanity to get it where I didn't have to apply side torque during the entire recovery.
Both recoveries are on the second pass now and near complete today.
I thought I would post this so you can feel good/thankful for any easy cases you did this week and maybe you can share your memories of the old Western Digital drives.

 

[Sam]

Good work!!

Talk about hellish recoveries--I would have taken on 10 of those cases instead of the 2500JB I have now. All 6 platter surfaces completely covered with a layer of silicon dust from 3 of the parking zones being torn to shreds. :shock: Wish me luck!

 

[Blizzard]

Good work!!

Talk about hellish recoveries--I would have taken on 10 of those cases instead of the 2500JB I have now. All 6 platter surfaces completely covered with a layer of silicon dust from 3 of the parking zones being torn to shreds. :shock: Wish me luck!

Good luck! I guess it can always be worse :lol:

 

[abedalkareem]

[post]7300[/post] maybe you can share your memories of the old Western Digital drives.

actually its not a memory its case i am living it from 20 days ago , have IDE - WD800BB (Sabre)


i felt lucky cause found over 19 Donner from old local computer Stock and buy them for 50 $ , unforisnalty i couldn't calibrate that dive what ever i did , swapped over 6 of 100% compatible heads it just keep clicking and spin down , i do LDRs , Head map in Ram , Hotswaps , returned heads back to there original donor drive some works fine and some not, suspect there is media Damage but the top platter surface is clean no visible scratches , the last thing i am planning to do is the side torque technique



any recommendation will be much appreciated

 

[Blizzard]

any recommendation will be much appreciated

Typically when you put donor heads back in one of these, the donor will work. Use your fingers on the top cover and align it, the seal should help you feel, and watch the screw hole alignment. Tighten the screws in 2 passes. First run screws down in a cross pattern (like head torque), until they touch. Follow up with a good 2 finger torque, same pattern. This might help you get your donor back running but not a headswap.

When first working with these you will think it's some other issue, like non-compatible heads. That's why it's important to get a very close match donor, so you are confident it's not heads.

Personally, I have never made one work with the cover off, but I have seen that video before where some guy does that. When I referred to side-torque I was actually applying it to the cover.

 

[Blizzard]

any recommendation will be much appreciated

One more thing, I have recovered a number of these clicking WDs with the same heads. They will always work better with original heads. Check the heads under a microscope, if they look good, put them back in. You might be pleasantly surprised
This is also a good reason to keep track of original heads when you remove them.

 

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Hi,
How about measuring torque while opening all the screws and then using same torque to tighten them ,This helps i know this 100%

 

[abedalkareem]

":24zt8tv0][post]7311[/post] How about measuring torque while opening all the screws and then using same torque to tighten them ,This helps i know this 100%

can you refer to tool do such thing?

 

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

":38loanoe][post]7311[/post] How about measuring torque while opening all the screws and then using same torque to tighten them ,This helps i know this 100%

can you refer to tool do such thing?

Of course ,
here you go -> https://www.checkline.com/product/TSD

 

[Blizzard]

Update: I ended up changing the heads again in that WD1600JS and the normal manipulation in PC-3000 utility could read head 0 & 1 with no issues. I did need to make another cover adjustment before heads 4 & 5 would complete. I guess the first heads were just too far off for the standard "trick" to work.
And right after those 2 old WDs, I got a WD5000AAKS (2007) that was quoted $2200 from DriveSabers. It was a much quicker recovery than the other two drives.