what can I do with the donor hard drive?

[trinhyulinh]

Hi everyone,
I am new to this area and have been reading posts from others for the last two weeks. I have a two Western Digital hard drive and one of them just died lately. Computer BIOS reconize it as 0.0 GB. no other information is shown in BIOS for the dead hard drive. I have a second hard drive with the same brand and model:

Bad drive, patient:
model: Wd15eads-11p8b1
Date: 27 Jan 2010
DCM: HHRYHT2CB
DCX: 9019P2S80
Made in Malaysia
PCB: 2060-701640-002 REV A


Good drive, donor:
model: Wd15eads-11p8b2
Date: 11 Feb 2010
DCM: HHNYHT2MA
DCX: 5021P2T84
Made in Malaysia
PCB: 2060-701640-007 REV A

What can I do with the donor hard drive to possible fixing the bad hard drive?

1- Is the donor PCB board compatible with the patient board for the PCB board swap include the U12 swap?

2- Is the donor drive compatible enough for the head swap?

Thanks everyone in advance!
Linh

[mr_spokk]

Hi, does the original drive spinn up at all?
If it does't you can try to swap pcb just to see if your drive spinns up...A reminder is, if the preamp has gone on the original drive you CAN end up with a faulty pcb from your donor drive.
A headswap is NOT DIY.

Regards/ Bosse

[trinhyulinh]

Hi Mr_spokk,

Yes the drive still spin for a few seconds and then stop every times I power on the computer.

I would like to know if the donor board is compatible with the patient board before I do the swap since both PCB numbers are not exactly the same.

I am not sure if I understand your statement correctly " if the preamp has gone on the original drive you CAN end up with a faulty pcb from your donor drive." You meant if the preamp of the patient hard drive has failed, then it can damage the donor board?

Thanks,
Linh

[pcimage]

If the drive spins up then spins down again, then PCB is not your problem.

Almost certainly is heads issue, which is not DIYable.

[trinhyulinh]

Thanks for the quick response, PCimage!

Do you know any reputable data recovery in the USA that i can send it to?

[pcimage]

No problem.

There are several reliable dr guys on this forum, but I don't know whereabouts you are. Could try "jono-ats" or "drc"

[trinhyulinh]

I live in Maryland, USA. -Thanks, PCimage.

Just a fyi...

I got a WD 250 GB (made in 2007) hard drive laying around (still working). I copied some test data onto it. I then opened the cover, removed the head and put everything back on (just to learn some experience). Took me around 30-45 minutes. The drive still work like it did before and I can access to the test data. I am planning to repeat the process for several times to get used it and see if it really break the drive. The hard drive has 3 platters and 4 head arms. I wonder if the WD 1.5 TB build more complicate than in than then 250 GB hard drive????

[Russwinters]

With WD, it will get more complicated then just moving the heads (the notebook versions of their drives will likely not have issues when swapped if done properly in a clean environment, but the desktop versions are a different story. Even with a "compatible" set of heads there is typically some special tuning that needs to be done, and you will need special equipment to get it to reliably copy.

[trinhyulinh]

Thanks Russwinters!

Just want to clear it myself, taking the head out and in from the same WD 3.5" hard drive will cause no problem (verified it myself).

But swapping heads with a donor drive require special equipment to get it to work???

Linh

[mr_spokk]

Hi, to open the drive and take out and put the original heads back in gives you less of a problem then if you put them into another drive that is NOT configured for them.
And a WD 250Gb is less complicated then a 1,5Tb due to the BPI (bits per inch).

Regards/ Bosse

[trinhyulinh]

Thanks for the confirmation, mr_spokk!