PC-3000 Forum

Good day,

We have a 16TB WD (See attached) This is a newer 2021 model (which I believe is not supported by PC-3000 as of now). The head is stuck. I do not see a clear way of opening this one. The top and bottom have "covers" which are just adhered and easy to remove, but once you do that there is no easy way that I can see to open this. Has anyone had experience in opening this hard drive properly?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thank you

This is an helium filled drive and is therefore welded shut.
With that comes all sorts of issues and problems, especially dealing with FW.
If you have no experience with them, they are to be avoided.

Thank you for responding. I did some research and saw this opening on hdd guru i believe. Doesn't look fun for these bigger drives

Hddex wrote:Source of the post The head is stuck.

Likely seized spindle, common on this model.
It's likely not recoverable.

As far as opening this helium drive, a Dremel tool with grinding disk can remove the thin seal of the top cover at its perimeter. It's pretty pliable and can then be peeled off fairly easily from the cover. If the spindle is stuck, you may find that applying manual rotational action can free it up. This has worked in a couple cases. Whether the data is recoverable is another matter,