I HAVE A 4GB WESTERN DIGITAL HARD DRIVE THAT HAS A PSYICAL FAILURE. IT CONTAINS VALUABLE DATA THAT WILL BE LOST IF I CAN'T GET IT FIXED. I HAVE AN IDENTICAL DRIVE THAT I AM WILLING TO SACRIFICE IN ORDER TO RETRIEVE THE DATA. HAS ANYONE EVER DONE A HEAD TRANSPLANT ON A HARD DRIVE? IF SO PLEASE HELP ME WITH INSTRUCTIONS OR ADVICE.
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HEAD TRANSPLANT ON A 4GB HARD DRIVE
- Thread starter JAMAN
- Start date
MasterRacker
New member
DO NOT OPEN THE DRIVE!!!!! <br>
<br>
You cannot simply swap pieces around between hard disks. I won't ask why you don't have a backup. <br>
<br>
At the very minimum, opening a disk needs to be done in a cleanroon. Send it in and have the data recovered professionally. (It will be expensive - probably at least $1000.00) One source:<br>
<br>
On-Track Data Recovery<br>
Casey Lund<br>
6321 Bury Drive<br>
Suite 13-21<br>
Eden Prairie, MN 55346<br>
800-872-2599<br>
<br>
<p> Jeff<br><a href=mailto: masterracker@hotmail.com> masterracker@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>
<br>
You cannot simply swap pieces around between hard disks. I won't ask why you don't have a backup. <br>
<br>
At the very minimum, opening a disk needs to be done in a cleanroon. Send it in and have the data recovered professionally. (It will be expensive - probably at least $1000.00) One source:<br>
<br>
On-Track Data Recovery<br>
Casey Lund<br>
6321 Bury Drive<br>
Suite 13-21<br>
Eden Prairie, MN 55346<br>
800-872-2599<br>
<br>
<p> Jeff<br><a href=mailto: masterracker@hotmail.com> masterracker@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>
FredWagner
MIS
I second Masterracker's advice - do NOT open the drive, DO call Ontrack Data Recovery - they will recover the drive's contents, and ship them back to you on your choice of tape media, or another drive. CD-ROM used to be another option, but your drive is much bigger than a single CD. Ontrack's price increases with the speed of service you require - cheapest is about a week, increasing to most expensive where they work on it round-the-clock.
DaveGoTech
Programmer
If you are just trying to retrieve data, you<br>
can open the unit to change parts. (We have<br>
done it many times.) Just work in a CLEAN<br>
area, don't touch the media and work quickly!<br>
The problem in this case is that if the media<br>
or heads are changed, you cannot align the<br>
tracks. Hard disks are also known as fixed (not removable) devices, because the data is written to the sectors according to how the particular unit was initially assembled.<br>
Try changing the circuit board first to see if this corrects the problem.
can open the unit to change parts. (We have<br>
done it many times.) Just work in a CLEAN<br>
area, don't touch the media and work quickly!<br>
The problem in this case is that if the media<br>
or heads are changed, you cannot align the<br>
tracks. Hard disks are also known as fixed (not removable) devices, because the data is written to the sectors according to how the particular unit was initially assembled.<br>
Try changing the circuit board first to see if this corrects the problem.
Good tip, Dave. Replacing the IDE controller may be the safest start (assuming an exact match can be found). <br>
<br>
Unfortunatly, JAMAN mentioned the head. If he had a simple head crash there may be nothing wrong with the equipment, only the media. A cheap program like Power Quest Lost and Found could recover much of the data.<br>
<br>
Unfortunatly, JAMAN mentioned the head. If he had a simple head crash there may be nothing wrong with the equipment, only the media. A cheap program like Power Quest Lost and Found could recover much of the data.<br>
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