R. D. Davis wrote:
> 
> While trying to revive a Micropolis 1325 hard drive, that spins down
> after being powered up, I've noticed something which may (or may not)
> possibly be of any interest, and I'm wondering if this makes any
> difference.  First, I'll include bits of some previous replies from an
> earlier thread, along with some comments.
> 
[comments deleted]

I've run into this problem with several drives (something like 8 out
of 9 that I have!).  I have tried both refrigerating the drives and
disconnecting things to bring them up.  If these worked at all, it
was only temporary - the drive would fail again after a few power
cycles.  As noted before, the failure seems to be caused by the
drive not being able to seek the heads.  This is apparently due to
a rubber bumper that gets sticky over the years and prevents the
heads from moving during the initialization.
I finally decided to try the "clean room" approach, only
without the clean room, with the following results...

(This should be done in as clean a place as you can find, and as
quickly as possible to avoid getting dust in the drive.  Also,
keep in mind that while this worked for me, it is a somewhat risky
process and can result in ruining the drive.  This is very much
a hack, and may not work long term!!  Don't say I didn't warn
you, etc...)

1.  Remove the screws on the top of the drive - some may be covered
    by the label.

2.  Carefully remove the top cover.

3.  Locate the head assembly and the rubber bumper.

4.  Carefully move the head assembly (ie, do what the drive does
    to seek the heads).  It will probably stick a little bit at
    first (which is why the drive can't move it!)

(now for the really scary part)

5.  Cut out a small piece of paper so that it will fit in between the
    bumper and the head assembly leaving about an inch or so sticking
    out.  The idea here is to keep the head assembly from sticking
    to the bumper and the paper does this quite well.

6.  Bend the paper over and carefully tape it to something that doesn't
    move.  If you can find a better way of attaching the paper than
    tape, go for it.  Who knows what might happen if the tape
    deteriorates...

7.  Replace the top cover and all the screws.

8.  Cross your fingers and power up the drive...


I've done this to two drives so far and haven't had a single problem
with them for almost 2 years now.  Now maybe I'm just lucky, so
do this at your own risk and only on a drive that you don't care too
much about!!

Good luck,

   -Jeff