11 Dec
2006
11 Dec
'06
10:55 a.m.
See Lyle's reply below. It's not really that
hard. I usually clean the
outside of the pack first to get as much crud off of the pack before I
split it open. I then remove the screws that hold the two halves of the
pack (every other one around...2 passes and all of the screws are out).
I don;t think it matters, since the outer casing performs no function in
aligning or even supporting the platter when the disk is in the drive,
but I;d undo them working 'across the centre'. That is, if the screws are
numbered 1 to 8 going round the pack (IIRC there are 8 screws), I'd undo
them in the order 1, 5, 3, 7, 2, 6, 4, 8
Since the pack is upside down to remove the screws I
then remove the
bottom cover. At this point the platter can be removed. I use 99.9%
alcohol and lint free cloths. Having the platter exposed allows for
careful inspection of the surfaces. I'm *very* conservative about the
condition of the platter. I've rejected a number of platters already
because of scratches, groves, burnt oxide, etc. I then clean the inside
of the pack (usually just blow air). Reassembly is the reverse of
disassembly(tm).
One thing that the manual mentions is that when you insert a screw, turn
it anticlockwise (counterclockwise) until you feel the threads engage and
then do it up. Not just to avoid stripping the threads if the screw cuts
a new thread in the plastic, but also to prevent debris from being
produced by cutting the thread.
Don't remove the platter from the hub. You'll lose the centring (which
can,, in therory, be set up using a clock gage with the ub mounted on the
drive's spindle, turned by hand), but you'll also lose the rotational
alingment between the data on the disk and the sector notches on the hub
(thse packs are hard-sectored).
And handle the disk by the hub. Handling by the edges is much more likely
to get grease from your fingers onto the platter surfaces.
-tony