HDD o v e r c l o c k i n g

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Currently i use an 80gb hdd that has the os i usually overclock with but i have a 160gb laying around that i can use instead of it collecting dust so sometime ill move my os there

 

Now with the 80gb hdd its time for some overclocking fun

 

Basically i just wanna do this for shts and giggles along with making content out of it because 80gb hdd is useless nowadays and due to their capacity amd age extremely slow, its snappy till i run firefox on it and then it turns into a slow asf system even when oced. Basically just wanna see if overvolting it can make it actually faster, but ofc not gonna be used for important data or anything, prob not even something you wanna daily, just shts and giggles with garbage hardware

 

 

Previous experiences i had with this drive when overvolted was ~14 volt it just starts whining and being stupidly slow (overvolted due to terrible oem psu), though not sure if its the 12v rail or the 5v rail thats causing this, ill have to test that myself, i never even considered using crystaldisk at the time so no idea if it works or not

 

Decent buck boost converters can be had for ~2-3$, ill prob not cheap out on this since i can reuse it for my fans on the eventual upgrade to this still unfinished ghetto loop (for powering dirt cheap 24v server fans)

 

For methodology with the voltmod it seems like theres 2 ways to do this, the simplest way is just running more volts into it straight from the sata connector, but this may risk stuff that doesnt need higher volt getting overvolted and ruining the "oc" attempt, then theres running 12v directly into the motor but that may require some rather questionable mods (which is fine), this will overvolt the motor so it spins faster without overvolting the stuff that doesnt need/want overvoltage so skys the limit other than motor blowing up

 

 

Now im just wondering if im missing something else that may be required for this shenanigans to work

 

Another question would be what does 12v and 5v power? Maybe i dont need to do questionable mods or maybe overvolting 5v is useless or something

[FakeKGB]

1 minute ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Another question would be what does 12v and 5v power? Maybe i dont need to do questionable mods or maybe overvolting 5v is useless or something

12v is for the motor spindle, 5v is for the board electronics.

Don't overvolt 5v, that will just let out the magic smoke that makes the electronics work.

[MultiGamerClub]

first time im hearing you can overclock an hdd.. One way to kill an old drive fast?

[Somerandomtechyboi]

1 minute ago, FakeKGB said:

12v is for the motor spindle

 

Though is there anything that could limit me from cranking 24v or something like that?

 

2 minutes ago, MultiGamerClub said:

first time im hearing you can overclock an hdd.. One way to kill an old drive fast?

The proper term would be over rev but faster sped = oc in the pc community

[FakeKGB]

Just now, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Though is there anything that could limit me from cranking 24v or something like that?

The hard drive might not read properly anymore, plus the motor might not be able to handle it.

I'd get a Molex connector, chop the 12v lead, and wire that to your voltage boosters then adjust at will. Don't put it inside a PC, if/when things explode might not be the best idea to have something like that inside a computer.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

3 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

Don't put it inside a PC, if/when things explode might not be the best idea to have something like that inside a computer

Next best thing is under my desk cause im running a testbench, atleast youll only damage the case rather than getting yourself injured if the drive somehow explodes, but at the ~12k rpm if the thing can even get to 24v in the first place it shouldnt explode since youd need more than 2x the speed to make the metal platter explode

[Levent]

• Motor speed is controlled, increasing the voltage doesnt mean increasing the platter speed.
• Increasing voltage results in increased current and more heat output from the motor for no gains at all.
• If you some how manage to spin the platters above their operating range, they might not be balanced enough to run at higher speeds resulting in increased vibration and error rates.
• Increased platter vibration can result in heads physically making contact with the platter.

Overall, waste of time and hardware.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushless_DC_electric_motor#Controller_implementations

https://www.electroschematics.com/hdd-bldc-motor/

[Vishera]

46 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Though is there anything that could limit me from cranking 24v or something like that?

 

The mechanical stress from the vibrations will probably shatter the platters to pieces.

[Blue4130]

You almost certainly can't just have the platters spin faster without doing some hdd controller hacking. The hdd rom contains data about spindle speed and how fast it needs to spin when writing data to certain parts of the disk. 

 

Any sort of hdd overclocking would need to be done at a software level, not by simply over volting the motor. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

8 hours ago, Levent said:

If you some how manage to spin the platters above their operating range, they might not be balanced enough to run at higher speeds resulting in increased vibration and error rates

c o o l v i b r a t i o n s

 

 

8 hours ago, Levent said:

Overall, waste of time and hardware.

Its junk hardware anyways ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯ 

 

3 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

The hdd rom contains data about spindle speed and how fast it needs to spin when writing data to certain parts of the disk

So in combination with voltmod ill need to software mod? I doubt ill be able to find this info anywhere on the internet but i guess i could do some hands on digging for data off a higher rpm drive, or just straight up flash a higher rpm drive rom just like i do with my bios modding shenanigans

 

8 hours ago, Levent said:

Motor speed is controlled, increasing the voltage doesnt mean increasing the platter speed.

So i can just edit or crossflash the controller w/o even needing a voltmod? Wheres the controller on these hdds?