Okay, long story short. My hard drive no longer functions (reader head skips like an old Phonograph) I'm getting a working drive of the same model# SV4002H. I'm planning a drive "Transplant" to try to put the non working drive into the working housing. Hopefully it will work and everything will be fine. For the $15.00 it cost me for the other drive I figure it's worth a try. If it doesn't work what are the options for data recovery? I've been quoted as much as $500-$750.00 for this. Is there any other option out there. Also if someone has done this type of drive switch before, is there any precautions or helpful tips you might have?

 

I know someone who was successful in doing a drive transplant, but he practiced on many bad hard drives first. Its not as easy as it sounds. First of all you need the right tools. Regular screwdrivers won't work. You will most likely need T5 to T9 star/Torx drivers and snap ring tools to disassemble the drives. You also need to know what you are doing. One slip and the platters are ruined. You will only get one shot at it.

You might get lucky and be successful, or you might ruin the drive beyond recovery.

I can't think of any other options besides a professional hard drive recovery place. You need to decide if the data is worth $500 or not, and if you can live without it.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, I agree. Starting with a few practice runs is a good idea. I have a few old drives kicking around that I can strip the drives out and put them back to make sure I'm doing it correctly. I'll let you know how I made out and maybe do a post of what I did and if it worked...Wish me luck! Some of the files on the drive are pics of our kids that I didn't get a chance to copy to cd's yet. Hopefully I can get them back...

 

Practicing on old drive will only be really helpful if the practice drives are the same manufacturer and model. I've taken hundreds apart to recycle the aluminum and they vary significantly inside. The trickiest bit will be moving the heads from between the platters and then inbetween the platters from your damaged drive without making any contact.

 

a few things to try before doing all the mentioned. place the cead hard drive in a ziplock freeze bag and then place it in the freeze for a few hours. remove it from the freeze and bag and connect it to the PC in an atempt to access the few files needed.

also, you can try to drop the hard drive from about 1 foot onto a table or counter. sometimes that will move the arm enough to read some data.

another thing I have tried was remove the cover and as the PCis trying to read the data from the drive, watch the arm. you can see where/when it gets stuck. when it does, carefully nuge it with a plastic item (small plastic tool of some sorts). you may be able to get just the files you need.

I would first get an USB to IDE (or SATA if that's the type of HDD you have) adapter so you can plug the drive into the USB connector of a working PC. this way, you don't have to try to actually boot the PC with the dying drive.

to do any of the above, you are on your own if you mess anything up. I take no responsibility for anything you do.

 

Essentially forget anything that involves opening the drive seal. You can likely do a board transplant, thats all.

 

Moving the internal parts into a new chassis/housing? Why? Becuase the old chassis is defective? Chassis defective? Try a board swap before anything else. Once you open the pack and drag the heads accross the non spining platters, $750.00 wont help you get your data back. Good luck. Please let us know how it turned out.