@rogfantger:

Sure. I won't try it with her disk. Fortunately have plenty of disks to test before I'd start with the WD.

@digisupport:

So even with a head swap it could be the case that the disk isn't recognized proper? With SATA you mean a SATA PCB or is it sufficient to mod the current PCB with a SATA connector? So you said my conversion wouldn't work due to too long cables? Do you have an example how it should look like to work proper? Because it already was recognized via SATA once. So maybe it's only bad soldering and too long cables. Maybe there's a chance I don't need a head swap?

@all:

And I already bought the same disk and just wanted to know if this disk would be a good donor. I attached 2 pictures of the disks front and back!

What do I have to take care of?

So my steps would look like this:

1. Headswap
2. SATA conversion (SATA PCB or SATA cable soldering?)
3. Firmware mod (are these mod02 and mod32 which are causing the problems?)
4. Cloning the drive 1:1 with same disk type / size

As I already said I thank you all so much for your help <3

Greetings

P.S:

Maybe you need some donor drives I can offer (Hitachi 3,5'' 4TB / HGST / Seagate / Toshiba 2,5''). I always get some disks for destroying because they're too old or have bad sectors but the rest is good.

They might have (most likely) different preamp type

Hi guys.

I found out something.. I bought this new WD Elements (seen on the last pics) and as I swapped the PCBs (I know I have to swap ICs / BIOS for a working disk) BUT the new disk had the same behavior as the patient drive with its PCB. The high beep for example. So it could be a defective PCB, right?

And I've found another WD Elements with the same model and 'DFBMCA' serial on the disk enclosure. But it seems that it's still a different disk type (DCM and DCX different). Can you guys tell me if this is a good donor drive? I'll attach a photo of the patient and the functional disk.

Maybe it's sufficient to swap the IC / BIOS and if that doesn't help I could swap the heads? (Of course ONLY if I'm ready for this kind of work!!)

Thanks again and greetings,

Duke

No. Again, not a PCB problem. It is a mechanical problem.

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Hard Disk Drive, SSD, USB Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

And again

Okay thanks. I'll send it in I think. I'll update you with the results

DukeOfDrum send me this drive, and course of trouble was one head not reading all, the matching surface also had a small scratch (small beep). New heads and SATA conversion gave a result where 7.081 files were rescued.
10 files had errors from the small media damage.
DukeOfDrum accepted the result and data is now back in Germany.

_________________
Digitalsupport Data Recovery
https://digitalsupport.dk

Well done!

So nothing to do with PCB?

There's a surprise!

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

me too

Nice - glad to see a happy ending

_________________
Hard Disk Drive, SSD, USB Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Hi Guys - Novice here. My son is an amateur photographer and he has been using this exact drive to store his work for the last few years. Somehow the usb going in to the drive got messed up and the cable is not going in any more. Can you guys suggest any solution on how can I recover data from this?

Go to your local TV repair shop and ask them to reattach the connector.

Or send your PCB here:
https://www.hdd-parts.com/14060264.html

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A backup a day keeps DR away.