Well, to make a long never ending story short here are the details:
a WD5000AAKS became unrecognised. So I, not an expert on data recovery, tried several
recovery software that used to do the job for me in the past such as r-studio, pttd etc. Probably making it worst.
After several attempts, turned to a recovery company who claimed the head needs replacing for the
price of 1500USD. A price I cannot afford.
So after watching some videos, reading some forums, I am ready for to lose my head replacing virginity.

The task of finding a proper donor seems impossible. Here are the details of my drive:

WD5000AAKS 16MB
S/N: WMASY5054150
MDL: WD5000AAKS-22A7B2
DCM: HBRNNT2CH
PRODUCT OF MALASYA

And here is the potential donor (the best so far):

MDL : WD5000AAKS-00YGA0
DCM: DBRNNT2AAB
PRODUCT OF THAILAND

Is the DCM code 4th 5th and 6th number match good enough for the replacement?
All new drives of this series are now made in Thailand.
I'd appreciate any ideas regarding finding a donor.
Thanks.

Not going to work.

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

If your data is important I would not recommend trying this. Even for the professionals these drives can be a pain in the neck.

When you say "not recognized" can you detail that a little more.

and those parts are not compatible

2 different families, not compatible.

and it is far from sure that the remedy for the problem is head related.

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Thank you for replaying.
The drive is being recognised as a physical drive in the bios, but this is as far as it goes with this one.
It doesn't seem to be recognised by any other software or system.
And about the head replacement, that's what the recovery company said that has to be done.
It is considered to be a respected and well known one.

1. It possibly does need a head replacement, but not by you. But as pepe says it's not for sure.
2. This is a difficult case, even for some pros. FORGET IT
3. These heads are not compatible anyway

Option A: Send to a pro for good chance of recovery (USD1,500 is not unreasonable for this pig of a drive, assuming it is heads related of course)
Option B: Have a DIY/McGuyver attempt and make a USD1,500 job into a USD15,000 job instantly

What are the symptoms of the drive? Does it click and stay clicking? Does it click a few times and spin down?

Maybe we can help you isolate the fault.

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

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

1500USD for 20 minutes work...
They make good money in Israel.

??????

_________________
Adatmentés - Data recovery

Videos and forums will not give you the skills needed to do this type of job

Parts are from two completely different families, tornado and atlantis i think (?)

$1500 is not unreasonable for the work involved, though prices will usually vary between firms. Maybe you should consider sending overseas?

Is definately not 20 minutes work, would be nice if it was!

And the DR company that told you heads require replacement are probably accurate, but I am sure they would also have advised against a DIY attempt.

You have had good advice in this thread from at least 3 professionals, but you choose to ignore it. It is after all your decision, but it is a bad one.

Well, it takes me 20min to fix such a drive and I have fixed a lot of them...
And it is NOT a heads problem! Definitly.

Unless you work for the firm that looked at it, its impossible to diagnose based on the little info here about it.

Maybe what you have is an opinion on it, but so far in my opinion damaged heads seems likely.

You are right in general, but wrong in this particular case...
Most of us know what is wrong with those HDD's...What about you?