lube for harddrives

[ayyon2157]

Hello everyone:

     I have an old (maybe 15 years old ) which has started making a noise when first turned on.  So far, it has come out of it and ran smoothly after a couple of minutes and it works fine.

     I haven't tried to take it apart, but some of the ones of similar age I have and I believe I can expose the bearings.  I have seen computers advertised which mentioned that "they had had their harddrive repacked"

     If I try it, what lubricant would I be advised to use? The choices would likely be: chassis lube automotive grease, vaseline, 3 in 1 oil, military surplus rifle oil, 30 wt motor oil, cod liver oil, and maybe even the silicone used on electrical connections.

     Thanks

ayyon2157

[Scadsobees]

reformatted, defragmented, never heard of repacking.

Hard drives are hermetically sealed, very precise.  Get a speck of dust on the wrong spot and you lost your OS.  Try squirting some oil in there and ...well....  When they go, they go. 

Honestly I'd recommend making sure everything is backed up, and get a new one.  There are ways to image one drive to another if the drives are still good.  Or just make sure everything is backed up 6 ways from Sunday and just let it go till it dies.  Who knows, it could still go for a while.

You can run a chkdsk to see if there is any data degradation or if it is just a minor mechanical noise.

Aside from that, since the whole computer is obsolete I'd start looking for a whole new computer. I don't know how much a new drive would be but for $400 you can get a whole new computer with a nice monitor.

Rick

[Scadsobees]

I thought I'd try a google search for "harddrive lubrication" (safe search on!!).

Came across this gem:
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2004/05/bbspot_labs_whining_hard_drive.html

At first it almost look feasible (almost, except for the platters setting on the desk next to the drive) until it got to the part about greasing the platters...

DON'T TRY THAT, IT'S A JOKE!!!

After a quick search I stand by my previous answer.  If you had everything backed up and wanted to take a chance, I would think silicon to be best, but I wouldn't ever try it unless I already had my backup plan in place and my new hard drive copied already.

[kathyp]

ditto.  my experience with HDs is that once they start acting hinky, you have limited time to save off your stuff.  sounds like you might be living on borrowed time 

[Shawn]

Yea dont use any lube on a computer. I did hear a person here, in the same line of work as me, thought he could lube up a case fan with WD40. Yea it didnt work and they lost the machine due to overheating. Harddrives are pretty cheap as long as you dont go overboard.

Scadsobees: Your just too funny.