Hi all,

This is my first time posting a topic here. A friend through youtube ERIK referred me here..

I have a 1 TB Western Digital SATA 8 MB Cache // model WD10EAVS 00DB1 Firmware issue. I believe it started when it hit SLIGHTLY not hard the side of my desk. I am a musicians and this thing holds all my music work. I contacted several places / professionals to fix but they charge an arm and a leg... meanwhile, I am kinda broke at this point.. I am in the belief that the head is bad... Please advice me. The following is the video of my HD.

Thanks
Hamsaya

here is the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP_znNbx-hU

By the way when it hit the desk it was NOT turned on.

Vey dificult to fix because drive is WD that poses very big problems to do a HSA transplant and also because of the high density your drive have (1TB).
Sound points to me that the problem is with the heads/preamp, but it's hard to diagnose without proper tools. If i'm correct and the problem is indeed with the heads you won't have your data back any cheaper than $1500 USD ...
Again, those are very dificult to fix drives, even for a expert, so your best chance is to send it to a reputable Data Recovery firm ....

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That is what I thought, I have ordered the same external drive type in the hopes that I will be getting the same hard drive in that as well. It has only been 40 days since I got this HD.

I am trying to swap the heads myself. I have experimenting on other HDS before I even attempt something on this one. I have ruined 3 of them so far ... 1500 is too expensive for me. I only bought this drive for 100 bucks..

I noticed while experimenting with other HDs that the hardest part is when you are pulling the heads from the platter ... you can only put the spacer between the two softer parts of the head where it kinda leans both ways...


When I opened couple of hard drives, the HEAD was almost in the middle of platter, should I just pull it towards outside holding the END or is there another way.. I am experimenting until I get this right I will be doing the same.. Once I figure that then I can move forward with doing the same with my main HD.

Please advice anything any useful information will be greatly appreciated.

Hamsaya

I woudn't dare to open a drive bigger than 80 Gb outside a clean room .....
I wouldn't dare to do a head swap on a Western Digital drive, i wouldn't dare to take the screw on the cover that holds the axis of the head assembly on WD drives ....
And so far i've sucessefully done lots of head swaps on seagates and maxtors and all worked fine, not like yours 3 missed experiences.....

The point is, even for a pro that do that for a living, a hard drive like yours poses a big chalenge.

Can you confirm that the drive is spinning fine ? The noise on your video .. i don't know if it's the drive spinning or your neighbour... If the drive is spinning normally it's definitively head/preamp problem.

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results-the-yourself-solutions-t11912.html

Please read that too ...

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The truth :

1) remove the screw that close the top cover and you will loose head alignment FOREVER.

2) to make it work with replacement heads (and there are a lot of things to be considered) you need a class 100 or upper clean room, antimagnetic tools and know how to do it. You are working with sub-micron lengths.

3) Even in this case, it will likely not work so easy because of different head characteristics and "alignment" issue. To fix professionally such things, the overall cost of the equipment needed is not less than 20 - 25'000 $ / EUR.

4) At this point, hope there is no media damage INSIDE the HDD.

You had enough good advice and "caveat" , at this point your data = your choice.

Sorry, but such answers make me angry:

You asked for advice

You got the best advice - including the information, that even for a professional
data recovery expert (with several years of learning and practice and with very
special and expensive tools) it will be very difficult.

Why, in Gods name, do YOU think, that you - a novice - will be able to repair it?

... but, sorry, I know, some things have to be learned the hard way - do it, its
your data you play with...

You asked for advice
why do you disregard the best advice ?

This is not to blame you, but to learn why this happens so often
- allthough there is a warning at the first screen when subscribing to this forum.
- allthough there is a lot of information - as example
results-the-yourself-solutions-t11912.html#p76776

+++

One of these days I'll make a video...

100% agree with falther.

DO NOT EVEN ATTEMPT to try and fix this yourself, IT WILL NOT WORK.

This particular case is tough for even the most seasoned pro, let alone a novice.

Sorry

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Waw, I was here asking for help and all I got is your frustrations.

I don't think when you guys were born you were born with the knowledge and understanding of EVERYTHING you know now.

I am not saying I will pull out a screw driver and just remove this and that and destroy my hard disk, and I know what I am trying to do is NOT easy either.

I am sure you have been through the path I am moving now .. someday back, but I promise you I will meet you in that destination...

I am not a 12 year old kid, I do have a little background with hardware software or maybe a couple of masters in software development... Of course unlike you, who not only know like gurus but talk like one too..

If anyone wants to help well thank you so much, if you want to discourage me then take it somewhere else cuz I am not going to listen ..

I will consider your heads up, and WARNINGs because I believe it is good, but if you are getting your frustration out, maybe you should do it some place else.

Hamsaya

This is not for all of you guys who are giving me advice but those who are frustrated.

Yes, the Hard disk is spinning fine in the video second 49 that is the platter spinning.

Again : you have been adviced. Now decide and eventually post the result, videos, etc. just in case you want to help or to demonstrate other people that it was not a good idea. If I were you I would pack the disk and store it in a safe place UNTIL I have the money for a pro ... no, forget it, I can repair it so if I were you you were me so you could repair it...

I know if I were you I would have fixed it genius. Any thread I should read in this forum that helps me learn, rather than discouraging me to do it myself. Lets say for learning purposes.

hamsaya,

Please read your PM.

Janos

@hamsaya
Read this carefully :

http://hddguru.com/content/en/articles/ ... k-Q-and-A/

At least get a clean bench or asseptic room or something where you can work without any particle of dust ....

Good luck, you will need it.

P.S. - I couldn't repair your hard drive even if i wanted to and even if you payed me a fortune, so i can't help you further either. Sory if my post was not what you wished to ear, if you browse all my posts you will find that i allways help people when i can ....

But it's like they use to say ... "some people blame the messenger when they don't like the message ..."

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Are you practicing headswap with the newer WD drives? If not, it may not get you ready to work with the 1TB WD drive. Also, did you get the right head for the donor? It's not like a car part where you go buy at any part shops. You have to get the right head stack in order to make it work.

Buying several of these high density drives will cost you $60 and up per drive. So far you said you lost 3 or so. You'll need a lot more untile you can feel more comfy before you touch your drive with data. I'm guessing with your trial and error, you'll end up buying at least a few 1TB drives to find out the internal heads are not compatible with your drives.

By the time, you get the right head, you might end up paying $149 - $200 for the drive on top of what you already put in for. You might end up spending close to $1000 or so by just trying on your own for nothing. I understand there are a few very lucky people out there and you may be one of them. If so, you'll get the right head the first time and you'll get the allignment the first time.

Gurus who gave you the advises are pros in this area. They know what they are telling you. I don't think they are frustrated to you but frustrated that you are going to lose your valuable data forever while you have a chance of getting them back.

$1500 seems a lot of money, however, wait till you open the case and do your own head swap and when it didn't work. The same company who offered you $1500 will be asking $3000 or more plus non-refundable diagnostic fee of $199 - $499 or so for them to just look at your drive to see if it's recoverble.

Do it right the first place will save you a lot of trouble and money later.

GOOD

Do you want a "simple" solution ? Buy a PC3000 UDMA complex (board + sw + everything) for drive firmware diagnostics and work, then a DDA (Digital Data Analyzer) , to check the read channel of your disk - I suggest Agilent or LeCroy or Tektronix , the necessary tools to deal with the mechanic, and some donors. At this point, you can be ready for work. In your bank account there will be more than 20'000 $ missing . Sad but true.

P.S. if there is a scored platter so the data or the drive firmware is now shattered in magnetic dust inside the HDD (maybe in the air filter) , all the equipment above is somewhat useless and other techniques are needed, and the price rise... why don't you get first a proper diagnose (PAID!) and then you can decide ?

haha I definitely appreciate your comments all were helpful my comments up there were not in regards to your help. That is another issue, who should I trust, what I send my hard disk and they say .. well sorry we could not fix it ourselves.. at least if I ruin it I will know that I gave it a shot.. others really won't care because they have nothing to loose. I have 10 years of my work there. I did get couple of offers in my pm, still not feasible to me.

Hamsaya

If you are going to insist. Please get a clean room or build a clean box and open your drive within the clean box. This will reduce any further damages.

Make sure you got the right donor head. Just buying the same model HDD will not give you the working head on your damaged drive.

After the head swap, make sure your drive is facing the alignment issue rather than incompatible head. If its an alighnment issue, try to work around it. This may take an hour or more.

If your problem is in the FW, then any head swap will not fix the problem. You need to restore the FW via expensive tools.

All I can say is GOOD LUCK!!! If you really need your music, some one will make a lot of money after you failed to recover your files. Standby for the $3000 bill for your data...