Actuator Arms

[junksable]

OK, maybe I am an idiot. Is there a trick to get the Actuator Arm from hard drives loose? I am breaking down hard drives for the 1st time, and I cannot get the Arm off easily. I broke one trying. Could someone instruct me. Thank You!

[jiffy117]

Remove the platters last usually. Loosen all visible screws inside and on back of hard drive. Sometimes magnets hold it in place, other times its held in by a screw or plastic tabs/arms. They can be different every time. But you learn the tricks as you go to each. Do all the same style at once, much more efficient as you have the right tool each time.

[HipoGear]

Some of them require that you use a larger torx bit on the hub of the arm. I can no longer read the size on my bit or I would tell you which one to use.

[Mechanic688]

Might also be screwed from the bottom.

[Scrappah]

The hard drives vary in how they were made. It gets easier after you've done a few.

I don't have any set way of doing it but look it over and think about how it works. The reader arm swings back and forth over the platters reading the information on the disk. When the hard drive shuts down the arm swings into the park position.

The arm is always pivoting on some kind of upright post. Look a little closer and you can see the bearings between the post and the arm itself.

*** There's often some kind of limiter built in to keep the arm from swinging off the the platters. Remove that limiter and swing the arm away so that it's easier to work on. (It's a PITA to remove the arm when it's all tangled up in the platters.) ***

Once the arm is free it's all a question of how it's held to the post. Sometimes it's easier to go after the post instead of trying to get the arm off it.

Like Mech said .... look for a screw on the back that's hidden by a little dot of aluminum foil tape. Undo that screw and the whole reader arm / post assembly comes off as one piece.

Sometimes there's no screw on the back but you can see that a steel post was pressed into the aluminum body of the hard drive. You can drive that out with a punch if you want.

If you know that the post is made of aluminum you can grab the arm with a pair of pliers and snap the whole thing off.

It's pretty straightforward.

[Mechanic688]

I've also had some that seem to be lightly pressed onto the post and if you lightly pry with a straight screwdriver underneath, it'll wiggle loose. Or if it's stubborn then do like was said and snap the post off.

[Hurrikane]

Hard drives for me and, I think many people are/were pretty tough. Start with the case(hidden screws under the stickers). Top still won't come off? (Silver tape on the seam). Removing the arm and platters. Loosened the screw for the arm but it won't turn far enough to come off.(There's that tiny little piece of plastic that prevents the arm from turning too far). Get your screwdriver in the screws for the magnet( I swear I think I'm drunk sometimes as the magnet pulls the screwdriver away). Got the right size bit for the screws on the platters? Sure you do! (Until the last on strips out). And just when you think you've got them figured out, you get that one.

[eesakiwi]

Some of those arms have two slots for a very wide flatblade screwdriver bit.
I just put a flatblade in one slot and unwind it out.