4
Score
davidaase
105
Asked
Is it possible to physically repair an apple ipod harddrive?
If an ipod harddrive is clicking and not reading or booting properly, can it be taken apart physically and put back together to repair it?
Or does this have to be done under certain conditions because of dust and other particles that might get on the disk?
10
Score
Luke Soules
26.1k
Answered
Accepted Answer
Unfortunately, opening a hard drive without a clean room probably isn't going to solve your issue. If the hard drive is clicking, it's most likely an issue with the drive's actuator arm. Some people have had success giving the drive a mild shock to free the arm, but If you're resorting to that I wouldn't trust the drive for anything important in the future.
On some drives, you can replace the controller board without opening the drive. In 1.8" drives, Samsung drives are designed this way. Unfortunately, if you have an iPod Video, it likely has a Toshiba drive, meaning the controller board is integrated into the drive and can't be removed or changed without opening up the drive.
If the drive's dead and you've never seen the insides of a drive, it's fun to take a look at the platter and arm inside the drive. Most 1.8 drives are held together with small Torx screws. Unfortunately, if you have a Toshiba drive they use a 5-pointed Torx bit instead of the normal 6-pointed Torx bit. The bad news is that this screw type is patented (and the patent hasn't expired yet), so it's really hard to get the correct screwdriver to remove these screws. You can often use a very small flat-head screwdriver to get them out. Samsung is nicer here too, Samsung 1.8" drives are held together with normal T3 Torx screws.
1
Score
AlMcCormic
13
Answered
I seen numerous laptop hard drives that failed because they got hot and oxidized the contacts between the controller pcb and the platter/head assy. I suspect at least some of the "freezer fixes" are just due to the contacts contracting and expanding onto non-oxidized surfaces.
As for opening the platter/head assy, that's for when the drive is toast and you have nothing to lose. I've heard of people opening them and reassembling them inside a sealed bag or plexiglass box.
0
Score
Spikey2
1.1k
Answered
0
Score
Chris Green
13.6k
Answered
Hard drives are hard to repair, once my 40GB PC Drive died and just to try, i put on rubber gloves, and tore the drive down, and rebuilt it handling all of the parts carefully, and put it back together. unfortunately, it never worked, and i bought a new drive, one thing to try is putting it in the freezer for a few hours, this is a temporary fix, and you shouldn't put the whole ipod in of course! you may be able to recover data though.