Where can I find tools to open and work on harddrives?

You mean srewdriver, "-" or "+" ? Do you mean partitioning tools, error reporting tools, scanning, etc.? or what?

A screw driver, but it looks like it needs a special kind * or someting.

Please be more specific. What do you mean by "work on harddrives"? If you simply want to open the case, you just need the right size Phillips head or Torx screwdriver. Opening the case however would introduce dust and other particulate matter, which would most likely damage the drive, unless you were doing all this in a clean room which I assume is highly unlikely. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? -- J.W.

Yeah, J.W. is right... for most your need Torx drivers, and if you want it to last, a clean room... I have, however, run drives with open covers... It's fun to watch for about 5mins then its just noisy... Anyway if you want to look at how it works fine but it's just not practical to repair hard drives unless there is critical data needed from them...

KC

You should be able to find torx drivers at your local hardware store, otherwise try McMaster-Carr.

Thanks I need the Torx Drivers, I didnt know what they were called.

What do you mean by clean room? I dust and vacuum regularly, will that work?

A clean room is one that meets certain requirements pertaining to the number and size of particles per volume of air. Clean rooms also have strict rules regarding who may enter the room, how long the door may remain open, proper attire, etc. Most clean rooms require a suit, a hood, and special "boots" to go over your shoes. You don't want to attempt to repair a hard drive at your house or anywhere else outside of a clean room.

I just use a drill and 1/4" bit.
I put the magnets on the fridge they are far more useful there than if you open it without a clean room.

If the arm on my harddrive or the circuitry of the harddrive fails how can I remove the magnetic disk so I can move it to another drive.

You could ship it out to one of those data restoration services, but they charge a lot of money. If it's under warranty, you should contact the manufacturer.

Call in the professionals (and pay big bucks to them too). I opened a hard drive, but that was so that I could see what was inside myself, not to save data or anything important.

I highly recommend not trying that. More then likely you would cause more damage to the drive instead of saving your data. They are heremtically sealed for a reason.....I have seen it done before but as others have said it was done in a controlled enviroment. Vacuuming your room and keeping it clean does not count as a clean room. Depending on the class of the clean room depends on how much protection one wears into one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_room

A speck of dust to us is like a boulder to a hard drive when you consider the aureal density of the platters.

I have successfully opened drives, nudged them to unstick the heads or platters and copied off the vital data.

After that the drive is only fit for demo purposed or the bin.

Essentially,once a drive has been opened, you can never trust it again.

On the other hand, if the electronics have failed, it is no great matter to swap the board with that of an absolutely identical drive.