Seagate Center Screw Backed Out

[Jared]

Here's an interesting case. Had an older Seagate IDE 7200.10 drive arrive today and the customer seemed quite certain the issue was PCB related. When I first plug it in I notice that the power connector is a bit twitchy, but with a little wiggling it does spin up fine (probably why they assumed PCB). However I was only able to read from two heads after building a head map for the drive. Then I notice something really odd, there's a bulge under the label.

No indication that the drive was opened before as the label was in perfect condition, but I found that underneath the center screw that secures the top of the head stack assembly had actually worked it's way out and was pushing up against the sticker which is all that was holding it in. I'm assuming that's probably what killed the other two heads.

Anyone else ever seen this? It's new to me.

 

[Jared]

Here's some pictures of what had happened internally on the drive. Perhaps this explains why it backed out. Also I noticed that one of the corner cover screws was broken off, possibly at the factory. I'd guess this all caused vibration that made it fail, but ultimately it was the rubber that had done the job.

 

[LarrySabo]

That's really weird, and a mystery how it could happen.

 

[w.simon]

My Friend who know about IT , or my brother is engineer and have a computer.

Did you got interesting recovery from this case ?

This remenber my one case on a 7200.10 ST3500630A

 

[pclab]

If the HDD was sealed, that's really a mystery....

 

[abedalkareem]

could be a refurbished hard drive??

 

[Jared]

What I think happened in this case, after a thorough investigation, is the following:

There was a corner cover screw that was snapped off (likely at the factory) leaving that corner somewhat unsecured. This likely allowed air to more freely travel in & out of the drive further drying and corroding the rubber seal (it was extremely brittle especially in that corner). After enough years pieces of the rubber started falling into the drive likely due to the angle it was laying in the computer. Without the tight seal in that corner the cover probably started to vibrate, which I'm guessing is what backed out the screw from the actuator arm. And eventually a piece of that rubber managed to make its way under the read/write head and killed the drive.

It's a strange one indeed.

 

[w.simon]

Is that marks i see on the cover where rubber is removed like if someone put something between cover and HDA.

 

[Jared]

No, it's not scratches in the metal, just residue left behind from the rubber strip.