Ultrasonic Cleaner

[IT LAND]

Hi Guys, did anyone used the ultrasonic cleaner, if so, how do you use
it to clean the platter and do you have recommendations for required
specs? thx

[James Cornell]

We had a drive come in which had been sitting in water for a couple of weeks.

The people who gathered it up didn't know to grab a bucket of the same water and keep it wet, so when we got it the water had dried and crusted.

Before we put the unit in the ultrasonic cleaner we took the PCB off, took the heads out (You really don't want to put the heads into the cleaner for fear of damage).

We took everything out of the chassis except the platters.

Then we filled the cleaner with distilled water and ran it for 5 minutes.

Changed the water and ran it another 5 minutes.

We repeated this process over 30 times over two weeks.

Then we used a LOT of anti-lint wipes and alcohol to clean the surface of the platters.

We then let the platters sit for three days to ensure everything had dried well.

Once that was done we transplanted the platters into a donor drive.

The unit came up and we were able to get the data. 

The ultrasonic cleaner we used was one that we found on E-Bay that said it would hold DVD's so we knew that the drive would fit. I think we spent about $30 for it.

When you first put the platters in the cleaner you may think that nothing is happening. The process is a slow one. If you take a before and after picture you will see the difference.

Someone asked me if we dried it why didn't we use the old motor. Trust me, this process killed the motor. You'll need a donor.

I hope this helps.  Good luck.

Jim

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Jim Cornell

race.c...@gmail.com

"Ancora Imparo" 

[IT LAND]

Thanks Jim, it surely help.
I ordered a better unit cost $210 in eBay don't know if it should
matter but I'll give it a try.
Just few more questions if i may:
1. why did you ran it in 5 minutes cycles?
2. Did you also used the heat function in the ultrasonic cleaner?
3. Did you replace the distilled water every cycle?
4. Do you think its safe and good to run the last cycle with 99.9%
alcohol? can it damaged the platters/data in any way?
5. How did you wiped the internal area of the platters between
platters?
6. I assume that except for the platters you used the heads and motor
from the donor.
7. Do you think i can use the SD platters extractor to take the
platters out and put it in the ultrasonic cleaner? instead with the
chassis or is there a chance to lose alignment?
I am asking that since the drive i want to try and clean is a drive
with platter damage that keep on killing heads, not from a flood and i
want to try and keep the motor alive.

Hope i haven't asked too many questions :-)
Thanks Mate,
Oded

> race.corn...@gmail.com
>
> "Ancora Imparo"

[James Cornell]

Good questions Oded,

I'll take them in order.

1. - The reason for the 5 minute cycles was because that was the longest the cleaner offered. No other reason.

2. - We did use the heat function, but very low. The reason was because we didn't know what else may have been in the water and didn't want to create a reaction of any type.

3. - We did change the water with every cycle. The idea is to get particles off and dispose of them.

4. - We deliberately did not use alcohol for the bath. In our lab we we are not set up for hazardous fumes and didn't want to take any chances of a fire.

5. - We used thin surgical lint free wipes to clean between the platters. We would swipe and toss the wipe. Like I said, we went through a whole lot of them.

6. - You are correct, the only thing from the original was the platters. Everything else was dead, including the the PCB. (Thankfully it wasn't a WD!)

7. - We looked at the possibility of pulling the platters and putting them in the bath. Here is the problem..you want fluid to run between the platters, which it can't do in the tool.

We were also concerned that the vibration would loosen the platters and we'd loose alignment.

If you want to keep the original motor I would suggest getting a close donor and strip it of parts, then move the platters to it and clean them. Then move them back to the original.

No worries on the questions. Ask away.  That is the reason for this list.

Best of luck, and never forget to take it slow with this process. 

Cheers,

Jim

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[IT LAND]

Cheers Jim, You're a champ,
thanks for your patient, detailed and accurate response.
Much Appreciated

[Scotticus]

Awesome string going here. Jim, how bad were the platters before you
started? How much of the data were you able to recover? Did you have
to switch out the heads at all during the imaging process because they
got too heavy laden with contaminants?

[James Cornell]

If you've ever seen a glass come out of the dishwasher with really bad water spots…that is what the platters looked like.

Because this is an ongoing case I can't discuss how much data was recovered or attach pictures of the drive. 

But speaking in generalities…we got what we needed. And in the Data Recovery business that is what counts.

We had three donor drives set aside for this recovery and used two. The drive that received the platters came up and we used both a PC3000 and a DDI on it, so it was fired up and read in three sessions. The heads survived all three sessions. We did note that the error count was growing near the end of the last session.

On a side note, based on this recovery we are wanting to dig deep and figure out if it is possible to remove the platters and clean them knowing the alignment is blown, then read the platters one at a time with the DDI and programmatically re-align the data. Not the optimum solution but one we are really curious about. Rest assured if we find an answer we'll be letting everyone here know.

Cheers,

Jim

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[IT LAND]

Hi Jim, sounds like a very interesting experiment, checking each
platter without the alignment. Will love to hear the results.

Cheers,
Oded

[Craig]

That's very interesting, Jim. Thanks for your generosity with the
information, I'm sure I'm not along in appreciating reading this and
gleaning some of your experience and wisdom!

[MrAnderson]

Hi Guys,

I currently received a WD 80gb drive that has been submerged in
water. I notice a few fine scratches on the platters, that don't seem
to be in the service area. If the scratches are not deep or in the
service area, do you think DDI will image it?