Seagate ST-157A sometimes not spinning - bearing oil?

[Dallas_Green]

Hello community

I have this 386 here with a ST157A, 44MB HDD which is actually running fine, doesn't have any bad sectors and sounds really nice, better then all the other drives from that time. This is the reason why I'm trying to save this drive somehow instead of replacing it.

The problem is that if the drive is started for the first time after a while, the motor is not spinning. It seems to stuck. With a little "help" by spinning the flywheel mass manually (just a very little), it can overcome this barrier and start to spin. From then on it starts and stops properly while the drive is warm. I guess it has something to do with the bearings of the motor and it's old lubricate inside.

I saw some guys on youtube trying to re-lubricate the baring of the motor. There is a little whole in the center of the flywheel mass and I already put a drop of baring oil there and waited a while - no effects.

Is there anything else which can be used tried to save the drive? I suppose there is no chance to open the motor without destroying the drive, right?

Thanks and advance

 

[Al Kossow]

if the spindle motor is quiet when running, it's probably stiction
vendors of early 3.5" drives with plated media had problems with it

 

[Ruud]

.... and it's old lubricate inside.

You laid your finger on the problem: inside. See it like an engine of a car: you cannot keep it running forever just by oiling it from the outside, oil changes are needed and in time a complete overhaul.
A friend of mine built hid own clean room using an old incubator as base. He managed to revive several drives in this way but in the end most HDDs didn't survive: too much much wear and tear in the moving parts.

Just a weird idea popped up: if the HDD dies on you, replace the electronics with a CF card. Then it least it looks you have the original HDD running.