High Failure Rate HDD – Motor Seizure – ST1000LM024 / ST1000LM025
Over recent weeks CDR – Manchester Data Recovery Services – have seen a high incidence of failure in the following Seagate / Samsung Momentus HDDs:
- ST1000LM024 (Can also be labelled as HN-M101MBB)
- ST1000LM025 (integrated USB portable HDD)
- ST750LM022
- ST750LM023 (integrated USB portable HDD)
- ST640LM001
- ST500LM012
- ST500LM013 (integrated USB portable HDD)
Samsung M8 / M8E series
Frequently these hard disk drives are packaged as Seagate hard disk drives. The HDDs we have received have been inside both laptops and external caddies. The drives use native Samsung technology. Since Seagate acquired Samsung drives in December 2011 Seagate has continued to manufacturer Samsung HDDs but have started using Seagate branding and model numbers.
Seagate / Samsung ST1000LM024 and ST640LM001 in for data recovery both with a seizure of the spindle motor.
All of these HDDs have arrived with a seizure of the motor. In this case, this is not a result of the motor bearing has failed, but because the read-write heads are stuck to the surface of the platter. This prevents the hard disk drive from spinning up, and is known in the data recovery industry as ‘sticktion’. The typical symptoms include a quiet buzzing or tapping sound when the drive is powered on. This is considered a mechanical failure of the hard disk drive. The most frequent reason for this sort of failure is a physical shock, however, the customers who owned these drives have reported each case that no physical shock has occurred.
DIY Data Recovery
If you perform a search on YouTube you will find multiple videos from individuals suggesting how to resolve the fault. This even includes advice of banging the HDD against a hard surface whilst powered on. In most cases, the advice given on YouTube is very poor and often irresponsible. Do not under any circumstances open the HDD yourself and attempt to move the head assembly across the platter surface. It will often result in unrecoverable data loss due to contamination and physical damage to the platter surface.
High success rates – contact CDR
It is an extremely delicate procedure to remove the head-assembly from the platter surface, and one when carried out correctly can leave the read-write heads functioning for the purpose of the recovery. When handled correctly the recovery success rate is good in these hard disk drives.
If you have any enquiries regarding data recovery from failed Samsung / Seagate hard disk drives please contact us for advice.