Trick to getting screws out of 2.5 inch HDDs?

I recommend using Wiha tools, since I do, I never had this kind of problem anymore.

news.rcn.com wrote:

Oh, those come out easily with wire cutters. They're not nearly as tight as the chassis screws.

OK Thanks I will try it and yes, clearly they were the logic board screws, not the ones you have to pay someone numerous thousand to get into a "clean room" to get off

I did try this but in practice it just burred the screw over even more: But this was an experiment. The drive was dead. I had bought it (for vritually nothing) as a dropped drive, hoping to salvage the circuit baord but when I tested it, it wouldnt even show up on the Hitachi DFT tool so the board was almost definitely completely dead.

Not the worst sort of loss imaginable. Still looking for a 30 Gig travelstar which has been destroyed through dropping and in practice, the seller had probably been ripped off by his technician who had possibly dropped the drive adn then told HIM that it would be unrelaible, sold him a new one and stolen his probaably working drive. There may be some slight possiblity of getting the original one instead of the completely dead one the technician gave him back

--------------------- I once used a little trick on a similar project. Might work here. It's a little hard to describe without a sketch, but try this.

Set the drive solidly on your workbench, with the troublesome screwhead facing upward. Look straight down at the screwhead. Using a fine, sharp, square-edge file, and working from the top of the screwhead straight down toward the drive case, file away the left 25% of the screw head. Now file away the right 25% of the screw head. If you have worked carefully, you now have two parallel vertical "walls", one on each side of the socket in the center of the screwhead.

Now, working from the top (not the side), and using a pair of pliers with jaws that are solid, parallel, and very square-ended, you can can grip the walls, and turn the screw. Getting this right can be tricky, and you'll probably get only one chance. If you squeeze the pliers too tight, you'll squash the remainder of the screw head. If you don't squeeze tight enough, you'll round off the head again as you try to turn it. If you grip it properly but twist it at an angle, the pliers will slip off, taking a chunk of screw head metal with them. In each case, there is insufficient metal left to reshape and try again. At this point, your best bet may be to drill off the remainder of the screw head.

Bill

Small angled wired cutters have always worked for me. Put on point inside the hole and the other point outside. Squeeze until the metal crushes then turn it. The screw head comes off one way or another :)

My real problem is that I cant get enough purchase on the side of the screw to do either of these without potentially damaging the thin green pcb! The problem with these Torx screws in HDDs seems to be that they are incredibly tight in the first place and are designed not to come out easily or at all for the reasons mentioned.

The best bet may be to file off the head and hope it doesn't leave too much flange which would prevent the pcb from coming off.

sharp,

a pair of

I'd use a proper extractor myself, drill into the head of the screw and use a real extractor.

Some Torx bits are too round on their ends, and grinding them flat can improve their grip considerably. But if the head is chewed up, try cutting a slot in it with a Dremel cutoff wheel. A soldering iron should be able to melt any thread lock sealer sufficiently and can sometimes help if the threads are simply seized, but sometimes you have to apply penetrating oil (Liquid Wrench or, better, Kroil -- apply a drop but do not spray) or tap gently (only if you the drive is designed to park its heads off its platters and you can support the drive solidly on the other side).

I have two in front of me with Phillips screws to retain the top cover:

Samsung SV0644A/DLL Fujitsu MPA3035AT