HDD platter swap/head swap...

Ur_Mom

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I had a HDD crash not too long ago. And, what was supposed to be my backup drive ended up being the very important 'data' drive...

I have the same model drive that works (fresh refurb from Seagate) that I can use as a donor drive. Does anyone work in a data recovery or clean room that can swap out platters or heads? I was quoted $1500 from a data recovery service for doing so.

This model suffers from a bad firmware that can cause some of the issues I have, but the clicking noise makes me think it's more than just the firmware.

Budget of ~$250. The data is mostly replaceable, but there is some stuff on there that isn't. I have a solid online backup solution now to replace the 'second drive' solution I had before.

Anyone capable of doing something like this? I can supply both the bad drive and a good donor drive (and could get another drive to copy the data back on to for recovery purposes). I doubt this is something I could do myself. There are guides on how to do it, but I'd like a bit more of a success rate (and pretty sure my limits are a bit before that). I can't do $1500, and the data isn't work that, TBH. But, $250ish would be closer.
 
Nobody with the know how and facility for this is going to bother for $250, but good luck

And if you try it yourself with no prior experience you will fail. There are a lot of gotchas when it comes to this kind of surgery on a drive that only experience and training can prepare you to deal with, even with a proper facility.
 
Nobody with the know how and facility for this is going to bother for $250, but good luck

And if you try it yourself with no prior experience you will fail. There are a lot of gotchas when it comes to this kind of surgery on a drive that only experience and training can prepare you to deal with, even with a proper facility.

Yea, it was a long shot. I figure my success rate would be under 10%, that's why I'm asking around. I don't have access to a clean room or a platter remover (and I'm assuming this thing has multiple platters so more probability of failure).
 
And if you try it yourself with no prior experience you will fail.

I actually succeeded with that 20 or so years ago (without any clean room or special tools...) . However heads and platters were much, much larger.
 
I actually succeeded with that 20 or so years ago (without any clean room or special tools...) . However heads and platters were much, much larger.

I believe this has multiple platters, too. I've taken the cover off many drives, and even made a clear cover at one time (successfully). But, with this much density and multiple platters and actually messing with the heads and/or platters, I doubt I would be successful.
 
I just decided to swap the head stack around...



It didn't work. It just makes a really weird noise. Not sure what went wrong.

BTW: I am joking. I just had an older dead drive sitting here and wanted to see how the Seagates were put together. Not going to even attempt it on my own. I did find a recovery place for $499 + donor drive parts. I have a similar model for a recovery drive. :)
 
That scratch on the top platter sure can't help. LOL!

They really do sound like shit when they are plugged in after messing them up like that. I think the head was rubbing the platter after I 'fixed' it. :)
 
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