Hi,
I know this is an older post, but does anyone know if the DCM breakdown is different for laptop drives? I've noticed on many laptop drives that the DCM is often much shorter, sometimes as short as 6 characters. Does anyone know what specifically is not in laptop drives that is in desktop drives? Or is there a different set of characters that need to match for certain procedures on laptop drives that may be different than those of desktop drives?
Thanks!

Yes it is.


Well Laptop drives have the same thing Desktop drives have, just a smaller form factor.


DCM changes a lot and is not a reliable method to test for compatibility. As for what to match on which drives, you will not find any correct information in the public domain. That info is part of the trade secrets of most DR shops. I doubt that someone who really knows will share. I certainly can not share. The best advice I can give is to buy allot of drives and start testing. I know this is time consuming and costly, and exactly that's the reason why you will not find any good info in the public domain. I wish I could help more, but unfortunately I can not. Good luck!

keep post....thanks...

Hi guys.

I'm in the process of swapping heads on my faulty WD drive. I have a few questions for you all after the wild goose chase that has been my donor drive hunt for the past few hours.

• I have a WD1600JB-00REA0 model drive. When comparing DCMs to other eBay auctions, the closest matches actually came from two drives of different models, the latter of which was an exact match:
  
  
  • My drive - HSCHYTJCA
  • WD800BB-75JHC0 - HSCAYTJAH
  • WD400BD-75MRA2 40GB SATA - HSCHYTJCA
  
  Are either of these acceptable replacements? Will the latter being a SATA drive and mine being an IDE make a difference? What about voltage differences on the former? If yes or no, why?
  
• With donors, how crucial is matching about digit 7 (Actuator-Preamp)?
• I used to be under the assumption that I was looking for the same make and model drive and that I could universally swap out parts like it was some fantasy world where everything goes right. I guess long story short, does an older, essentially matching DCM drive have more to offer than a donor of the same make and model with only digits 5 and 6 of the DCM matching? I've read that only these two corresponding digits need to match in order to be an acceptable replacement.

Thank you all so much for your time and help in advance.

Are you absolutely sure it's heads? And how will you eventually deal with headmap or possible mechanical alignment ?

"possible" mechanical alignment?

It's a 99% certainty this will not work (for you), sorry to say.

These drives are a nightmare, even for some "pros".

If it was a Toshiba or even a Seagate (pre .11) then I'd give you half a chance, but not this WD.

Please have a tinker by all means, but if your data means anything at all then I strongly advise against McGyver on this one.

_________________
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http://www.pcimage.co.uk

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Mc who??

Almost 100% positive it's the heads. It's that dreaded clicking sound, and the PCB looks immaculate with no burnout.

I appreciate the pessimism, pcimage, but you didn't even answer one of my questions. When you have absolutely nothing to lose, it's worth a shot, so it's a risk I'm willing to take at this point. You find me a place that doesn't charge $1500-$2000 for the smiles and memories on those spindles, and then I'd go from McGuyver to Sensible Sally.

I asked very specifically about the DCMs and still am waiting to hear a response for 1-3. Why is this also a 99% certainty? I mean hypothetically, with the drives I mentioned, since the digits match, shouldn't these be perfect donors for the head assembly? In that perfect 1% scenario, what am I looking for to match up here?

Cheers!

We are telling you that even if you match everything, you won't be able in 99,999999 percent to get data. You will kill the media, instead.

Even if you match everything on the outside, that does not mean everything is matched on the inside

_________________
You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Also, in this case I am not even sure 1 good donor is enough...

Your dead drive has 2 heads, the 40gb donor with the matching DCM has only 1 heads. DCM is useless.
The 3 drives you listed all belong to 3 different families, it is very likely that their heads wouldnt be compatible no matter what. There's also some chance that their preamps use different voltages and if you use the wrong pcb on them then you will smoke the preamp. That smoke will of course go nowhere but the platters, smoking your smiles and memories. Unless you kill them first while trying to transplant the heads in the first place.

what the op didn't want to hear...

The WD1600 actually has 4 heads, usually 0,1,4,5 with 2,3 missing.

DCM isn't as important as it's widely believed.

None of those donors suit, like drguy says they are from different families.

Also like hddguy says, you may need more than one donor.

Believe me you have a virtually zero chance of recovering this drive, sorry to say. If I thought you had then I'd say so.

I guess U.S. companies can get away with more than we could in UK, we'd never get $2000 for one of these unless it was a priority "rush" case. A case like this would be around £795 + taxes from us, maybe less depending on how many parts we have to use.

I wish you all the luck in the world.

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

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

I sincerely appreciate all of your collective time and help. I guess I just would like to better understand why you're so adament in thinking these drives aren't recoverable, or the procedure I intend on attempting with the head swap has such an abysmal success rate. Personal experiences? Or are WD drives just notorious across the industry for being one big pain in the ass? What am I missing?

Also, why would I need more than one donor if the drive is 100% functional and why will it kill the media? The clicking seems like a textbook case of bad heads, and there is a video of a reputed data recovery place on YouTube going through the exact same process successfully with a WD drive. It doesn't look exceptionally difficult to do, and with nothing to lose and without thousands to spend, the ol' college try is about the only option left.

I appreciate the responses in regards to model being more important than DCM...it's what I sort of figured due to the different sizes and different number of heads. Now knowing this, how about this auction on eBay?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

Same model, same country, roughly the same manufacturing date, extremely similar DCM with most important of the digits matching in regards to head information. Will this improve success rates or are we still looking at your slim margin of estimation?

You can't prove your theory, our advice and the validity of the easy procedure video until you do it. Just one thing : don't come here again asking what to do next if didn't work AND remember that an already opened drive case has usually a 2 to 5x quote.

I don't have a theory, and contrary to popular belief, there has been absolutely NO advice given, unless you call circle logic, speaking in tongues (2 to 5x quote?), and beating around the bush advice. It's also literally impossible for me to have a theory if I'm only speaking in questions. And I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone at all, actually. I feel I've come on here completely humbled by my experience, vulnerable by my position, and open to any and all detailed advice, but have yet to receive comments beyond snarky, condescending remarks such as yours. There is no need for you to be abrasive, standoffish, and elitist. I at no point interpreted the answers I received (mostly from pcimage) as being wrongs to the rights you assume I surround myself with in my personal opinions. I'm here asking simple questions to people who I apparently wrongfully assumed would be generous in their time, help, and responses. At this rate, I'd feel more comfortable walking with flamethrower through a fireworks factory than I would be posting another question to this forum. Not one single "Oh, well this is why your donor won't work..." or, "Here's why the DCM is/isn't important..." Instead, you used this situation to gain leverage on somebody that was clearly in dire need of advice/opinions and relished in the fact that for a split second, you were actually above somebody in life. Real noble existence tossing yourself out of bed in the morning...

The ebay donor could possibly work BUT....
What the youtube videos don't tell you is that
WD drives are some of the hardest to do head swap.
No one shares the info on how, so the youtube vids won't
tell you how to do it ..
The problem is head alignment ..Once the cover is removed,
the heads are mis-aligned.
Search this forum for wd head alignment.. there are plenty of
threads to explain why you won't be successful with a head replacement.

The warnings from others are not because they don't want you
to try .. It's because they don't want you to lose your data.

I don't have so much time in my hands like many other people, just wanted you to avoid a lot of frustration and data loss. It's not my fault if I can do things . P.s. This forum is 'as is' . I suggest you to go to Wd site forum or other sites where there are less pros and more end users - maybe will be a 'blind leading the blind' thing, but you'll feel more comfortable with your expectations.

"The warnings from others are not because they don't want you
to try .. It's because they don't want you to lose your data."

Exactly so.

I only know you won't (99.99%) succeed because of the alignment issues, which has taken me quite a number of months of research and trial-and-error (not on client drives) to tackle them successfully.

This is the reason why this info won't be shared.

I get dozens of these type cases every month from other DR companies, so divulging what I have spent so much time and money on to all and sundry on the interweb would be commercial suicide, you see my point?

_________________
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http://www.pcimage.co.uk

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