WD5000AAKS - Head change

[zebong]

Hi to all,

i received this wd disk, and when i open it i notice that is missing 5 Heads, and i dont see the heads in the disk.
So if i dont see the Heads but the heads are somewhere in the disk.

I order a donor, and afther change heads in it try to callibrate 3 times them stop.

The DCM first 3 numbers match, and also motor number match.

Afther this i open the disk and see if the good heads are "missing / damage " but see that the heads are there.

I had one case that the heads are missing but where stuck in the platte and i could see and remove it.

Any comment please ?

Thanks
Ze

[Creator]

Zebong, DCM is not important.
This drives from same family --YG-- and this is one of the conditions.
You should compare head map in both ROM's. It's must be same. This is second codition.

[beto]

Hello zebong i would check, for magnetic dust over platters that family has some tendence

[BlackST]

Just curious : where the heads did end ? In the filter ?

[sempre]

Hi..

it does not have damages in platters?

[BlackST]

Another curiosity : did you find the heads in these conditions ? For me this drive is a desperate case (user intervention ?!?)

[zebong]

yes, i found the heads like this...

And dont find yet the missing heads, the filter was clean, very clean.

[BlackST]

I vote for heads being captured by the VCM magnets . Remove top pole and take a look there because the drive is not a bathtub and there's no sink the heads, unless ground in nanoparticles, should be there.

[harddrivespecialist]

There is a slim possibility of a heads stuck to a platter, that what probably took new heads (if I undertood correctly)

[TerraNova]

I think the platters are damaged and contaminated, head exchange will be wasting.

[simonstokvis]

The heads are almost 99% sure on the magnet. These magnets are very strong and it is lickely the heads are blown towards the magnet, while the drive was spinning.

I have eaxactly the same drive which needs a head swap (WD5000AAKS-00TMA0). I am curious if you managed to get the alignment OK and if so how you did it. Did you use the ramp for the swap or just a different tool?

[zebong]

Hi in this case was not easy change heads , i could do it with a tool that i build and using the ramp.

Abou the aligment .... i am trying no sucess at the moment

Any info are welcome.

Thanks
Ze

[Crash]

I have also seen where the heads were ripped off and stuck to the platter.

[pepe]

I found many heads stuck on the gasket of the cover.

pepe

[BlackST]

The rest of the heads are on the hands of the end users

[zebong]

i am just working on the aligment ......

[hddinfo]

I DO NOT believe that this drive wasn`t open before and someone remove those heads previously.


so ..... zebong tell us a real story

[zebong]

Wait ....

what i said is when i open the disk it was missing the heads but the disk came to me closed with seal, i open it.

What happen to the disk it was dropped by the client so heads jump.

At the begginer dont see any heads, but i could find just two.

The others heads is in the disk inside dont knwo where !!!

[David_young1960]

Hi Guys,

I have a WF5000aaks-00tma0 RE-CERTIFIED which fails on me some time ago. I have some important photos and document on it. I like to recover at least some part of it.
I found the replacement with the exact model number but different month in the same year produced.
I have briefly opened it up to see inside and hooked up with the PC. Well right after turn on the drive I saw that arms moves onto platters and makes couple of back and fort then stopped spinning.
There is no damage either on platters or arm/head. My aim is to swap the platters if can. I know there should be some sort of balance requirement with this type of hard drive that I do not know.
Has anyone done anything similar what I am trying to do? At this point any help is deeply appreciated.

Thank you

[jono-ats]

Please tell us how you have decided that a platter swap is what's needed for this drive. Is it "accepted folk wisdom"? Did you see it done on an internet video? I am really interested in your decision process, because many people come to this forum thinking that a platter swap is the next step for whatever problem they face.

Unfortunately, you opened the drive, most likely in a contaminated environment. Once you pop the cover on these drives,re-alignment is a very difficult necessity . . . if the drive hasn't already been destroyed by particles.

It may have been that your drive had a PCB problem -- not a mechanical one. It's time to call a pro for sure. There is nothing more you can do except lose your data forever, if you keep working on it.

Sorry, but that's the truth.