Tuesday, 19 May 2015 00:00

Heads parked on the plates surface

Rate this item
(0 votes)

Typical damage of the hard drive, especially in portable computers and music players equipped with the hard drive (e.g. ipod), is the head parking on the surface of the plate. The defect is very simple to diagnose without opening the HD. The engine isn't starting and often makes characteristic sounds similar to music tones.


Possible causes of heads parked on the plates:

  • shock, fall;
  • damage of the parking mechanism;
  • in case of SpinPoint Samsung (type Magma, MP0302H, MP0402H, MP0603H, MP0804H) PCB damage can cause parking the head;
  • running out of battery in the portable computer during the functioning of the hard drive (record/reading) may cause heads parking (emergency parking mechanism does not work properly).

Parked heads are sticking to the surface of the plates (in the same way like two sheets of glass laid on themself) and are making start of the engine impossible. In case of parking caused by the fall or the shock, most often the surface of plates is damaged (visible trace of the head on the surface of the plate) what complicates the process of the data recovery very much.

In case of the failure of the parking mechanism, the head can miss the parking, and stuck between the plate and the parking. It may occurs the physical head crash (e.g. tearing the plate off) and appearing the pressure to the surface of plates. Such damage causes scratching of surface of the plate - one of the heaviest kind of hard drive damages.

The data recovery from the HD with parked heads consists in importing heads to the parking space (landing zone or external parking), or the exchange of damaged heads and copying data. Unfortunately, the parked head not always will be unstuck from the surface of the plate. The damaged head is often stuck in that way, that the attempt to unstuck the head off the plate is ended with tearing off the element MR. This element stays stuck to the surface of the plate and is very difficult to remove. Taking off the head without the MR element from the surface of the plate without breakdowns of the area is also a difficult challenge. Click here if you are interested in data recovery services in Sacramento, CA.

On photographs ST9160310AS HD with parked heads. Pressing the lid of the hard drive was a reason of parking (crack on the lid).


Last modified on Tuesday, 19 May 2015 19:22
Data Recovery Expert

Viktor S., Ph.D. (Electrical/Computer Engineering), was hired by DataRecoup, the international data recovery corporation, in 2012. Promoted to Engineering Senior Manager in 2010 and then to his current position, as C.I.O. of DataRecoup, in 2014. Responsible for the management of critical, high-priority RAID data recovery cases and the application of his expert, comprehensive knowledge in database data retrieval. He is also responsible for planning and implementing SEO/SEM and other internet-based marketing strategies. Currently, Viktor S., Ph.D., is focusing on the further development and expansion of DataRecoup’s major internet marketing campaign for their already successful proprietary software application “Data Recovery for Windows” (an application which he developed).

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter the (*) required information where indicated. HTML code is not allowed.

Get Help Now

Thank you for contacting us.
Your Private Investigator will call you shortly.