I am a long time desktop/server tech (dos days) and always tell my users to back up. And of course non-backup got me. I hadn't backed up my laptop HD in about 6-7 months due to moving and not setting up my main PC that I back up too. So I've lost a bunch of pictures/videos. Nothing end of the world, but bothersome for sure.

I have my laptop on an air desk and one of our dogs knocked it off the desk while the laptop was on. My daughter put it back on the desk and told me later. I opened the laptop and everything looked good. After a few minutes it did a BSOD and didn't want to boot. So I pulled the drive and slaved it in another computer. It ran long enough to see the data and grab a few files. Now it will only detect in bios after it hasn't been on for a little while. It makes no clicking noises or any normal dead hard drive noises. I can hear it spin up etc. I did the no-no and opened it quickly, just to see if the platter had a "visible" scratch on it. And I didn't see anything visible (i.e. scratch or dust from a scratch). Does this sound like a damaged head?

I've been reading this forum for a week or so and have read a bunch of the newbies (like me) trying the head swap. I just can't afford the price of most of the data recovery places I've seen. I bought a donor drive to try (and was going to get some other drives to test on first) but after reading more here. I'm not sure its that simple. Based on y'all's experience does this sound like just a bad head and a "simple" head swap would do it? Or am I going to need other software to get it to work after the head swap?

Tony

hi,
you shouldn't have open the disk, if drive was calibrating looks normal sound then should have taken to any Data Recovery Company they would have recover your data for much less cost (same cost of donor you buy 100-200$ ) now Drive is opened they will charge you good money .


changing Heads is not that easy if you manage also chances are very less, your drive might have some other issues too not just heads (heads seems weak original heads as you said drive is not making clicking sound).

_________________
Specialized in Physical Data Recovery

https://lifeguarddatarecovery.com

I know it's suppose to be a no-no to open it outside a clean room. But it's not like I opened it for long, it was very brief. Heck I only took the lid off far enough to see the platter. I've had drives apart before just playing with them (since I've been in IT for years and had plenty of spares) and they worked just fine with the top off. Even later they still worked after I put the top back on it.

What else could be wrong with the drive besides the heads? I don't think the PCB would be hurt from the fall. The drive spins up, so the motor is fine. It doesn't vibrate like the platter is warped.

Tony

These drives are configured in such a way that they try to fix the pending sectors ( if any) and pay no attention to the host. You were lucky that the heads remained OK and were able to read data (something very rare in a case like this) .
All your drive needed was a new configuration module and a decent data recovery software.

After I made this post, I searched some more and found a company on here I am going to send the drive too. Since I don't have the recovery software.

Tony