drive repair tips?

[Tony Duell]

> 
> I have a disk drive - a (relatively) modern sealed unit - which appears
> to have mechanical trouble.  The noise it makes spinning up says to my
> ear "bearing friction".

Maybe, maybe not... Does it still work reliably (in other words, could it 
be a headcrash?)

> 
> I'm considering taking it apart and lubing the bearing.  Of course,

I've never done this, but I can possibly give you some problems you'll 
have to work arounds

1) You will probably have to remove the platters and heads. Apart from 
the obvious problem of contamination, you also need to keep the alignment 
precise. This is something that's not necessary when the drive is first 
assmebled, it's assembled, and _then_ it's low-level formatted. But you 
need to be able to read the existing data on the drive, right?

2) Dismanting the motor to get to the bearings is going to be 
non-trivial, if it's even possible. I would assume it's assembled on a 
press, it may not be possible to get the parts to separate again without 
damage. 

3) A few weeks back we had a thread where somebody stated that the 
lubricant in hard disk bearings was critical, as it must not creep over 
the platters (most lubricants do). 



-tony