Hello everyone

I've a "dead" Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500GB, ST9500325AS Firmware: 0001BSM1. When starting, I could hear the HD spinning up, then some clicks at regular interval, then it slows down. BIOS was only capable to read the name of the drive, MHDD couldnt read Smart attributes.

There were 2 partitions on that HD, 1st partition starting from 1st sector and ending to half of HD, 2nd partition starting from half and ending to the last sector of HD.

This is a picture taken after opening it in clean room... a "head crash" has happened. I don't know if System Area is recoverable, but I suppose not.

In your opinion and following your experiences, could be possible after replacing the heads: 1) to read or rebuild the most important System Area modules (Translator Table, Adaptive, etc…) 2) to recover any data from the second platter (which is under, not visible here) and 3) to recover any data from the first (here visible) platter, maybe from sector 1 to the last "readable" sector?

Thank You

Dear Andrea8310,
I have been down this path before. The top platter shows signs of damage, namely the rings probably caused by broken heads if you examine them under a microscope. If you replace the heads from a donor drive, the platter damage will probably damage the replacement heads as soon as the heads hit the damaged area. Then you will be out for the price of the donor. In my opinion, the top platter should be examined with a good microsope to determine the level and depth of damage before runing another good set of heads. Good luck!

Hi
i had the same Problem with Seagate Drive i swapped Head once Heads hit to Damage Area it's gone is there any solution for this kind of problems

Yes, there is more solutions, what we can use in similar cases, but all is our trade secrets.
If you want, we can help.

Janos

Infact, Janos you are right..

I'm asking your opinions to estabilsh if there is one or more solutions to recover part of the data, so then I know if invest more money with a pro HD-recovery to obtain a specific result or not...

The main question is about recovering/rebuilding the most important System Area modules (Translator Table, Adaptive, etc…) I suppose these are unique for any HD and necessary to try to recover data, so: about it what would you say in your personal experience, if the read of S.A. fails? is it possible try a recovery with new heads group without letting them go on the scratched area?

In this particular case a question is also:

can platter 1 be separated from the platter 2 (hidden in the picture) (mechanical alignment?!), also can only platter 2 can be readed with "head n.2"?