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

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[danielemalagoli]

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.

[MasterT]

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.

[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.

[stoyantsalev]

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...

[Dingo]

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!

[petercuello]

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.

[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!

[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.

[ezzeldin]

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

[ioannisbalouktsis]

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

[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.

[Benk]

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.

[StarlightStream]

I really appreciate the diversity of content on this channel

[xmarxthebox]

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

[maverickhornet]

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.

[palica]

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!

[jontait]

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

[sharkskinboy]

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

[geraldgomes]

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

[JLCPCB]

Thank you for everything you teach us! 😁