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Cracking open a laptop hard drive 

The Hitachi Travelstar

 

 

Laptops are quickly overtaking desktops as the computer of choice. The heart of any 
laptop, meanwhile, is its hard drive. Explore this image gallery to see how one of the 
world's most popular mobile hard disks (the Hitachi Travelstar) is put together to power 
countless laptops. You'll gain a new perspective on the main component powering all 
those notebooks you see the next time you frequent the local coffeehouse. 
 
The Hitachi Travelstar mobile hard disk. This model sported a 5400rpm motor, ATA 
interface and 40GB of data storage. 

 
 

Cracking open a laptop hard drive 

Removing the hard drive cage

 

Содержание Travelstar

Страница 1: ...the world s most popular mobile hard disks the Hitachi Travelstar is put together to power countless laptops You ll gain a new perspective on the main component powering all those notebooks you see the next time you frequent the local coffeehouse The Hitachi Travelstar mobile hard disk This model sported a 5400rpm motor ATA interface and 40GB of data storage Cracking open a laptop hard drive Remov...

Страница 2: ...eral Philips screws one of which is shown here at the top left corner must be removed to free the Hitachi hard disk from the silver hard disk assembly used to hold the hard drive securely within the Dell Inspiron s hard disk bay Cracking open a laptop hard drive The hard disk cage ...

Страница 3: ...3 This silver cage perforated to encourage cooling airflow holds the hard disk securely within the Dell s hard disk bay Cracking open a laptop hard drive Hard disk cage removed ...

Страница 4: ...sk cage s screws are removed the assembly falls free from the Hitachi hard drive The Hitachi s circuit board shown here on the right is then revealed Cracking open a laptop hard drive Disassembling the Hitachi Travelstar ...

Страница 5: ...5 To continue disassembling the Hitachi Travelstar next several small Torx screws must be removed So too must the drive s label Cracking open a laptop hard drive Disassembling the Hitachi Travelstar ...

Страница 6: ... Torx screw Once this last Torx screw is eliminated the cover freely opens It should be noted of course that removing the label even if the screw behind the label remains voids the manufacturer s warranty Cracking open a laptop hard drive Inside the Hitachi Travelstar ...

Страница 7: ...7 Once the seven Torx screws are removed the drive s front cover now shown on the left easily slips away Cracking open a laptop hard drive Inside the Hitachi Travelstar Hard Disk ...

Страница 8: ...ns at approximately the 7 o clock position in this image and spindle motor the silver circle in the center Meanwhile the actuator arm mechanism which is responsible for controlling and moving the actuator arm is the silver metallic assembly in the bottom left corner Cracking open a laptop hard drive The Hitachi hard drive cover ...

Страница 9: ...9 Here s a close up of the underside of the Hitachi hard drive s front cover Cracking open a laptop hard drive The actuator arm ...

Страница 10: ... the very tip of the actuator arm Cracking open a laptop hard drive The Travelstar read write head In this closeup of the Travelstar s actuator arm you can see the read write head that sits at the arm s tip The head of course is responsible for reading and writing data to the Travelstar s hard disk platter Cracking open a laptop hard drive The Hitachi Travelstar minus actuator ...

Страница 11: ...lstar hard disk with the actuator arm assembly and circuit board removed All that remains essentially is the Travelstar hard disk platter and the spindle motor hub Cracking open a laptop hard drive The Hitachi Travelstar platter ...

Страница 12: ...12 The actual Hitachi Travelstar hard disk is smaller than a mini CD Here you can see it pictured next to a small screwdriver Cracking open a laptop hard drive The spindle cover ...

Страница 13: ...e tiny Engineered to perform at precise tolerances the actual spindle cover and spacer are quite small they must be to accommodate the smaller mobile two and a half inch hard disks Cracking open a laptop hard drive The Travelstar circuit board ...

Страница 14: ...s circuit board away from the hard disk cover This specific board features Samsung manufactured circuits The board also contains the pin assembly positioned here on the board s left edge used to connect the drive to a PC or IDE cable Cracking open a laptop hard drive Hitachi Travelstar circuit board ...

Страница 15: ...d reveals the component was manufactured in Malaysia Here you can also see another view of the same pin assembly shown in the last image positioned here along the board s right edge Cracking open a laptop hard drive The Disassembled Laptop Hard Drive Parts ...

Страница 16: ...16 Here are all the components that powered this Hitachi Travelstar mobile drive through its three year lifecycle How to Replace the Pins on a Laptop Hard Drive ...

Страница 17: ...llips and TORX Step 1 Unscrew the damaged hard drive s TORX screws that are holding the controller circuit board in place The controller cards contain all of the data pins which cannot be easily re soldered Step 2 Carefully remove the controller board from the hard drive There is a small ribbon cable on the back or bottom of the card that will tear if not handled properly Tugging on it very gently...

Страница 18: ... product s lifespan Since the pins are very small and very close together it is not possible to repair them once they break off They must be replaced with the controller board Step 4 Replace the TORX screws that hold the board to the hard drive Be careful to not over tighten them The drive should now be installed into the laptop and tested Laptop Hard Drive Circuit Board Repair ...

Страница 19: ... to ask Before attempting any form of self data recovery or hard drive repair What is the problem Does the hard drive spin If so does it click Does the armature kick out Do the hard drives heads vibrate to initiate ...

Страница 20: ...Board controls many functions to operate the hard disk drive There are 5 main features of a the electronics that can be unique to each drive that is likely to fail the first being POWER INPUT The most problems we see here are mostly human era forcing the power plug in the wrong way Unfortunately apart from a few notebook PCB s there is no protection fuse to prevent PCB Damage There is also risk of...

Страница 21: ...kshops or even sulfa in the air from volcanic regions can cause havoc but for most residential computer hard drives its condensation that damages a PCB In this example this PCB was only 6 months old WARNING IF YOU CHANGE A PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD WITH A NON MATCHING PCB SUCH AS DIFFERENT FIRMWARE LAYOUT OR MICRO CONTROLLER NUMBERS YOU WILL RUN A HIGH RISK OF FAILURE AND FURTHER DAMAGE Yes there s a ...

Страница 22: ...umbers As a data recovery engineer it is always best to repair the Original electronics of a failed hard disk drive That way you get maximum results with very little risk Most high end data recovery companies have the expertise to replace many if not all components on the PCB but not only physically but replacement but this may also involve new components and reprogramming COMMON HARD DRIVE FAULTS...

Страница 23: ...zed the is drive was damaged I removed the Lid to inspect just how bad As you can see this HDD has had a severe head crash NOTE if you remove the sticker and it appears to be clean there is still a possibility of a fine scratch that has not caused any platter dust for the sticker to pick up but most importantly if it is clean Do NOT REMOVE the top of the drive on your desk and if you do use a can ...

Страница 24: ...s Computer will not turn when I plug in the HDD This will most likely be a power failure of the PCB and the PCB is drawing more power than what the whole computer needs to boot Chance of repair is high but parts can be an issue The hard drive Smells Smell the HDD PCB if the Drive smells bad then it has had a power Surge and you need to check for obvious physical damage to the PCB ...

Страница 25: ...OS can t load the Operating System O S from disk drive you will find the POST card stop and fixed display the specific code on it It is mean the BIOS can t pass the program of POST User can look up the BIOS POST lists to know which function is defects And rough to know what kind problem occurs For the current POST card products we find the ISA such as JET 1023 ISA POST card PCI such as JET 1048 PC...

Страница 26: ...26 The POST card used for PC system assembly motherboard test and BIOS debug ...

Страница 27: ... POST Card specification Full compatible with any kind motherboard such as 80486 Pentium Pentium II Pentium III AMD K5 AMD K6 AMD Athlon AMD Duron which has the PCI Bus slot Support the power source working indicator 5V 12V 3 3V and 12V When indicator s LED is on to indicate its respective power is ok otherwise to indicate its respective power is failure PCI Clock and RESET signal working indicato...

Страница 28: ...OST at PCB component and solder side It is very easy to view the POST code indicator when user plug the POST card in computer system case POST code latch mode selection JP1 o JP1 short The function is setup as AUTO mode Its function is same as JET 1024 V4 o JP1 open The function is setup as pure POST card mode it is used for user didn t read extra PCI device information when user plug the POST car...

Страница 29: ...re PCI Clock and RESET signal working indicator When indicator LED is on to indicate its respective signal is OK PCI signal active indicator FRAME IRDY TRDY When indicator LED is on to indicate its respective signal is active now Auto port 80H 84H switch without jumper setting It auto switch to PORT 80H for general notebook motherboard and to switch PORT 84H for COMPAQ notebook motherboard after s...

Страница 30: ...easurement value of PCI Clock Temperature 5V 3 3V 12V 12V and VIO on the MFI 3 digitals7 segment LED without any probe operation PCI Clock and RESET signal working indicator When indicator LED is on to indicate its respective signal is OK Auto port 80H 84H switch without jumper setting It auto switch to PORT 80H for general motherboard and to switch PORT 84H for COMPAQ motherboard after system pow...

Страница 31: ... to apply for o System reliability testing The system will only restart when a specific POST code output setup by DIP switch In another word the system will stop when it doesn t reach the specific POST function For example the A BIOS process the POST routine from 01 Power on 1st routine 03 06 4E 00 boot strap before booting the Operating System User can setup DIP switch to 00 for this mode and che...

Страница 32: ...shooting assistant Watch Dog reset by POST port function JET 1050 will output a pulse upon CN1 when the system doesn t generate any POST code write operation over N seconds N value is setup by DIP switch from 1 to 255 Watch Dog reset by hardware interrupt function JET 1050 will output a reset pulse upon CN1 when the system doesn t generate any Hardware interrupt operation over N seconds N value is...

Страница 33: ...lect to use both ISA and PCI bus type POST card For notebook user we suggest you to buy the JET 1054 Mini PCI POST card for Mini PCI bus type III most of new generation notebook has this kind extension bus What is new generation PCI POST card design New generation PCI POST card is designed with the PCI bus core logic and ASIC technology It can work in any kind motherboard designs with PCI bus For ...

Страница 34: ...ists to get POST code message to know what kind problem occurred Where to get BIOS POST Code Lists information User can get BIOS POST code lists in your motherboard user s guide or web Some motherboard makers offer this service You can get the information from BIOS vendor directly The primary BIOS providers in current market are list as follows AMI American Megatrends Inc Award Award Technology In...

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