I've a western digital harddrive (WD5000AAKS), which needs a headstack replacement. I've experience with headstack replacements, where the heads are parked on the platter. In this case the heads are parked next to the platter on a load/unload tray.

For replacing the head I see two options:

1) Move the heads to the platters, remove the load/unload tray and remove the head from the platters
2) Use the load/unload system as a tool. Just keep the heads in the load/unload system, unscrew the load/unload tray and the headstack and finally take the complete headstack with the tray.

For now I prefer option two to foresee any head/platter damage when moving the head from the tray to the platters and remove from the platters. Before I am going to try this, I was wondering if anyone has experience with this method? Are there any difficulties? Every feedback is welcome.

Furthermore my harddrive seems to have the western digital alignment screw. This screw must be removed for opening the cover, which will result in a bad alignment of the heads. At this stage I am not sure if this drive has such a screw, but I am pretty sure. If anyone could indicate if the screw under the label on the picture is the alignment screw, this information is very welcome. If so any hints for recovering the alignent are also welcome.

load/unload tray, you mean the ramp ? About the alignment.... it is the WD nightmare for DR. The screw is not an "alignment screw" like the azimuth / zenit adjustment screw on audio/video equipment, it is like a belt on your pants : the belt keeps the pants up, the screw keeps only the lid closed... UNFORTUNATELY it keeps the headstack in position, also....

I prefer option 3, which you have forgot to mention.
3) Send it to a pro.

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Thanks for the quick responses. I agree option three is the best, but the money....It will costs me almost E1.000,-. Furthermore I am interested if I can do it bij myself. It would be nice to have the data back, but it is not that important.

Are you sure the screw shown on my picture is the 'belt on my harddrive'? If so it is difficult for me to understand. I do understand the position of the screw is important, but if I just use my common sense I would say remembering the screw position by marks and the turns of tightness would help to set the heads back to the right position....but appearantly not. I read some topics about positioning the head by placing a screwdriver in the axis and move the screwdriver to give the heads the right position. if you have the rigth posititon you should copy the data while holding the screwdriver....seems it little bit difficult and running the drive without cover is something I don't prefer:

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

Nevertheless if this is the only option I give it a try.

100% sure. DIY by trial and error, do not expect success and help as mostly you are wasting time.

You never mentioned why you opened the hard drive in the first place and need to replace the heads. From your wording this seems like your first head transplant. You can not put experience into words on paper. Option 3 may be your only chance at a recovery. Just by opening the drive you have increased the recovery price.

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This drive 100% has head alignment issues. In regards to that; Dmitry's article expains what needs to be done, but makes it look failry simple. I can assure that it is not. The first time I began practicing head alignment on WD drives I read that article and thought it would be a breeze. You will find very quickly that using only a screwdriver to align the heads is not practical (unless you use magic like Dmitry)


My hint to you is: Design what works for you.


I will back up what everyone else has said. If the data is important on this drive DO NOT attempt this. Get a bunch of working WD drives with not valuable data on them (like 10 or so) and practice practice practice until you can find alignment in a reasonable amount of time with no damage to the heads.

like russwinters said this model has alignment problems the unload ramp its easy to did the head swap like hitachi and laptop´s cases with load/unload ramp the problem its the alignment after that,

Thank you for the replies again. Actually I did not open the harddrive with the data, but I bought some WD drives to practise. I know my drive has a head ramp. To not demolish the bought drives, I've first posted this message.

If I understood beto correctly, you can use the head ramp to replace the heads. The only issue is the alignment. How can I be sure to set the alignment in the right way?

Option 3 is really no option for me. First I want to practise until I can manage the head swap for a WD drive it and then I will do the head swap.

Oh yes, the story why I need a head swap.This harddisk is used in a mybook world edition external harddrive. The drive was just running and suddenly started a reset. The drive started clicking and after a few clicks a re-start. I tried a PCB swap, but the same symtomes accure. These drives are know as fragile and a head swap is often needed. For these reason I think I need a head swap, but off course I can only take that decision after opening the drive.

Good luck. Fortuna audaces juvat. Period.

Post here the Results,

And Good Luck

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