Fix your own hard drive

SUBJ: Fix Your Own Hard Drive
By Brian Near in Deseronto, Ontario, Canada
Author's Warning: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

It's really not too difficult to fix your own hard drive, if the
problem is a head crash, or the infamous Seagate "stiction" problem,
if you know what to do. You will require #4/0 steel wool, Varsol,
WD-40, a few hand tools, and about 45 minutes.

First, you need a clean room, so make sure the garage door is closed
before you begin. Move those old lawnmower parts off the bench.

Disassemble the sealed unit and carefully wash all parts with
Varsol. Bend the read/write heads out of the way and then
disassemble the platter stack.

VERY CAREFULLY buff the platter surfaces with the #4/0 steel wool.
This will remove any existing data, level out any surface defects,
and help to redistribute the magnetic media and fill in those pesky
"bad sectors" that most drives have.

Reassemble the platter stack, and using a .015" feeler gauge, bend
the read/write head back to the platter surface, using the feeler
gauge to set the gap. This is a slightly higher gap than the
factory uses, but it reduces the chance of head collisions with any
flotsam you neglected to remove.

Give the head and platters a good shot of WD-40 and reassemble the
unit. If your drive has a filter, replace it with a clean section
of gauze pad.

All that's left is to low level and DOS format the drive, and you're
back in business.

I haven't tried this yet myself, but my friend's wife's
sister-in-law's husband knows a technician who does it all the time.