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Hard
Disc Drive
__________ Before you take anything apart
- What voltage(s) are required for this device? ______________________
- Are there any warning labels? ________
- Are there any indicator lights? ________
- Are there any pushbuttons or other switches? ________
- What kinds of tools are needed to get inside the case? ____________________
__________ Open the case – Use the correct type of screwdriver
- Remove any stickers and covers from the case to reveal the mechanisms and circuit
board(s).
- How many circuit boards are there? ________
- How many motors can you see? ________
- Find the indicator light that you saw outside
- Is it attached to a circuit board? ________
- Use the battery pack to try to light the indicator, which is usually a light emitting
diode (LED). Does it light if you reverse the connections? ________
__________ Examine the circuit board(s)
- How many large integrated circuit (IC) chips are there? ________
- What do they do? Beats me.
- Find the one with the most package pins. This chip may be a microprocessor or
microcontroller, or maybe not. The largest chips could be controllers for the motors,
controllers for communication with the rest of the computer, or memories for buffering
data while it is being read from the disc.
- Was there any plastic or other insulation on the inside of the case to prevent the
circuits from touching the case? ________
- Locate where the wires or cable from the motor connects to the circuit boards.
- Is there a beefy-looking chip near this location? ________
- If so, it may be the driver that supplies the high electrical current for the motor.
Such chips may get hot enough to require a "heat sink" to channel excess heat
away from the transistors inside.
- Is there any metal attached to this chip? _______
- If so, it is probably a heat sink. Is insulation absent from the case at this location
to allow heat from the chip to flow into the metal of the case? ________
__________ Check out the mechanisms
- How many disc platters are there? ________
- There is probably a read/write head for each side of each platter. Try to see each of
these. How many are there? ________
- Can you move the mechanism that positions the read/write heads? ________
- If not, it is probably "parked." Find the parking lock and release it. How
does the hard drive release the lock? ________
- Can you rotate the motor and spindle that spin the platters? ________
__________ Run the platter motor and activate the parking lock release
- Try connecting the power supply leads to the main power connector. Touch them only
briefly, and disconnect them if the motor does not run. Try different combinations. Did
the motor run? ________
- If this is not successful, unplug the cable from the circuit board or remove the circuit
board.
- How many wires are connected to the platter motor? ________
- Connect one power supply clip to one of the motor wires or terminals, and touch one of
the other wires with the other clip. Does anything happen? ________
- Try touching each of the other wires. Does anything happen yet? ________
- Well, try clipping to a different wire and touching each of the other wires with the
other power supply clip. If you find the correct combination, the motor will probably run.
Did you try all possible combinations? ________
- Did the motor run? ________
- How many wires are connected to the parking lock release electromagnet? ________
- Can you find any terminals to connect to? ________
- If there are terminals, touch the power supply leads to them. Does the release activate?
________
- If there are no terminals present, try again to find a place to make a connection after
you have dismantled the hard disc drive.
Questions for further consideration
- What things were done to simplify assembly?
- Could it be simplified even more?
- What things were done to make the hard disc drive compact?
- Could it be made even smaller?
Take it all apart
- The drive belongs to your group. Remove the platters and motor. Take apart whatever you
like. Put parts in the bag. Separate metal parts for recycling.
- If you want to take anything home, your group must decide fairly who gets what. Intel
coordinators will mediate, if necessary.
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