Despite what mkwerks has to say, I found you teardown exceptionally helpful. It would have taken me ten times as long to figure it out myself. Thanks to you, sir!
Mine was malfunctioning. I feared the worst. I know very little about PC's, etc. I tore the thing apart just as you did in the video. Plugged it into the motherboard... Now I have my hard drive back! :) THANK YOU!
Good Instructions, had mine open in ~15 Minutes using your tutorial. Then plugged the "bad" drive into a HHD docking station reader and was able to copy off all my data. So it looks like the problem was just in the enclosure somewhere. Sucks, but at least I was able to recover all my data!Thanks
This video looks like it will be super helpful for me. I know this is a very old video, so I'm not sure if you'll be able to answer this...but I'm about to take one of these bad boys apart, so here's my question: When you put the straight piece of wire hanger in the vent-hole pictured on that guys blog are you trying to pry that clip "UP?" Or "PUSH" it somehow? It isn't clear from his description. Thanks.
No, he doesn't really make that clear does he? I didn't do it that way and I can't remember which direction would work best. Good luck in salvaging your drive, though.
thanks for the tutorial, I was trying with almost the same version but mine is 1 terabyte, unfortunely I could not make it to work as internal hard drive will try with some external hard drive adapter again
@NEIK91 It is hard to say whether the files can be saved. It depends on the cause of failure. But it won't cost you anything but time to pop it out of the housing and test it.
I just tore mine out of its enclosure. Sad, really. I always loved the way that enclosure looked. A completely unique aesthetic. Not any decent way to save it, though. Thanks for the video. Helped a lot.
Thanks for this teardown. My drive just died last night and I may try this to see if I can resurrect it. I tried both the eSata and Firewire connectors and neither work.
If my hard drive is lighting up but not being recognized but any computer. It is likely just the casing that is the issue, right? If I were to remove it, would the drive be wiped clean, or would the files remain intact if I put it into a new enclosure?
I tried the Hanger trick, not enough force to push the clip free. I found that using a small screw driver and a hammer. Gently tapping until the first clips came loose. took a total of 7 minutes to get into the drive bay. The metal cage can be a pain, you just have to squeeze one side loose and the whole thing comes apart.
Man lemme tell y'all something....this is THE hardest drive to get access to, and it isn't even close...I tried the hangar thing and that didn't work, and it forced me to use pliers to open the outer casing...now I am attempting to get the aluminum cover off...smh
I'm not sure if you got your issue solved, but I used a butter knife to open the lid with the Seagate logo about 3/4 of the way. It was challenging to open, especially near the connector area. I placed the logo side of the lid on the floor, managed to pry it open enough to put my foot through, and yanked the drive almost 90 degrees before i got it separated. It broke one of the clips. The case was already damaged and it wasn't being recognized by the PC anway, so I didn't really care. I had to use TestDisk by CGSecurity to recover all the data because otherwise, it was showing as an unformatted drive when I plugged it into my desktop.
I HIGHLY recommend not even fooling around with the power supply and just getting yourself the proper connectors. Tear this sucker open (just like in the video), attach to your motherboard and enjoy using your drive again.
Thanks for the video. As others said, ignore the idiot(s). Sad, but someone who complains about this video most likely has wasted his entire life anyway. Thanks for the tip about the coat hanger. I didn't use the coat hanger approach but there was a comment of someone using needle nose pliers and using leverage to pop it open and that worked like a champ.
Thanks for the tip about the four small screws under the rubber feet 1:36. This helped a lot.
Glad it helped!
Despite what mkwerks has to say, I found you teardown exceptionally helpful. It would have taken me ten times as long to figure it out myself. Thanks to you, sir!
Mine was malfunctioning. I feared the worst. I know very little about PC's, etc. I tore the thing apart just as you did in the video. Plugged it into the motherboard... Now I have my hard drive back!
:)
THANK YOU!
You're quite welcome. That is great. And I appreciate the additional tips that others have posted here as well.
Glad you found it helpful. Hope your drive is now serving you well.
Good Instructions, had mine open in ~15 Minutes using your tutorial. Then plugged the "bad" drive into a HHD docking station reader and was able to copy off all my data. So it looks like the problem was just in the enclosure somewhere. Sucks, but at least I was able to recover all my data!Thanks
+Aaron Fry Cool that it was helpful.
Thanks for this. I had two of these I needed to break open, so you saved me a lot of time.
Glad it helped.
This video looks like it will be super helpful for me. I know this is a very old video, so I'm not sure if you'll be able to answer this...but I'm about to take one of these bad boys apart, so here's my question: When you put the straight piece of wire hanger in the vent-hole pictured on that guys blog are you trying to pry that clip "UP?" Or "PUSH" it somehow? It isn't clear from his description. Thanks.
No, he doesn't really make that clear does he? I didn't do it that way and I can't remember which direction would work best. Good luck in salvaging your drive, though.
thanks for the tutorial, I was trying with almost the same version but mine is 1 terabyte, unfortunely I could not make it to work as internal hard drive will try with some external hard drive adapter again
@NEIK91 It is hard to say whether the files can be saved. It depends on the cause of failure. But it won't cost you anything but time to pop it out of the housing and test it.
I just tore mine out of its enclosure. Sad, really. I always loved the way that enclosure looked. A completely unique aesthetic. Not any decent way to save it, though. Thanks for the video. Helped a lot.
Yes, the nice looking housing was one of the reasons I bought it also.
Thanks for Sharing 😄 I have one same model that need to teardown. 😅
Just a note of thanks for this vid. Got my drive open and working via SATA interface.
chicano.deluxe Glad it helped.
god bless you ı have been looking for this for a long time
Thanks for this teardown. My drive just died last night and I may try this to see if I can resurrect it. I tried both the eSata and Firewire connectors and neither work.
***** where would i find a replacement module that is located in the base of this. It is the one that is removed by the silver screw in the bottom?
If my hard drive is lighting up but not being recognized but any computer. It is likely just the casing that is the issue, right? If I were to remove it, would the drive be wiped clean, or would the files remain intact if I put it into a new enclosure?
I tried the Hanger trick, not enough force to push the clip free. I found that using a small screw driver and a hammer. Gently tapping until the first clips came loose. took a total of 7 minutes to get into the drive bay. The metal cage can be a pain, you just have to squeeze one side loose and the whole thing comes apart.
Great tip
i had the Freeagent desktop 1TB (ST31000528AS drive) as well, i put it out of the case and now i use it as an internal hard drive lol
Good luck. Hope it works out for you.
Man lemme tell y'all something....this is THE hardest drive to get access to, and it isn't even close...I tried the hangar thing and that didn't work, and it forced me to use pliers to open the outer casing...now I am attempting to get the aluminum cover off...smh
Hello. does the front of the inside HDD face the lit logo or the back side face lit logo?
Sorry. That was so long ago that I've forgotten.
Nice video. Question: Is the drive you found inside a 7200rpm or a 5400rpm? Thanks.
The Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0 eSATA hard drive is a 7200 rpm drive.
Can't disassemble, near logo Seagate, like lock. Please, help
I'm not sure if you got your issue solved, but I used a butter knife to open the lid with the Seagate logo about 3/4 of the way. It was challenging to open, especially near the connector area. I placed the logo side of the lid on the floor, managed to pry it open enough to put my foot through, and yanked the drive almost 90 degrees before i got it separated. It broke one of the clips. The case was already damaged and it wasn't being recognized by the PC anway, so I didn't really care.
I had to use TestDisk by CGSecurity to recover all the data because otherwise, it was showing as an unformatted drive when I plugged it into my desktop.
I HIGHLY recommend not even fooling around with the power supply and just getting yourself the proper connectors. Tear this sucker open (just like in the video), attach to your motherboard and enjoy using your drive again.
The files would remain intact. And yes it's likely the problem is just the casing.
Very helpful. Thanks for posting. Ignore idiots.
Thanks for the video. As others said, ignore the idiot(s). Sad, but someone who complains about this video most likely has wasted his entire life anyway. Thanks for the tip about the coat hanger. I didn't use the coat hanger approach but there was a comment of someone using needle nose pliers and using leverage to pop it open and that worked like a champ.
I love it when commenters add tips like using the pliers. Thanks for the feedback.
This was pretty useful, but sadly my drive was really dead.
Well that's a bummer
Great. Thanks.