WD400 Data Recovery Help (Please)

[niceguy167]

Salvation has tools, and so does I think hdwc or hwdc or something like that,, also hdd spray WTH......... maybe I should try to freeze it first............. I am not as stupid as you think..... Just don’t know hdd's but am experimenting to learn.... What’s wrong with that?????????

[rchadwick]

Nothing wrong with experimenting. It's just not a good idea to experiment on a drive with important data, but to each their own.

I know Salvation has tools, but I was wondering where you got the 'Platter Swap' idea. Was it Salvation?HDRC?

[N.C.]

ok so this leads to another question... i know this drive is screwed but what would one have to do, in the case of a platter swap when you have multiple platters. i know you have to move them in sync (aka platter puller) but then once you get them to the new drive according to what i have learned you still have to allign the HD????? So taking that moving platters is like a complete last resort? so if i do manage to get this pcb board working and got a new head i would still have to allign no matter what??? i did not know that.... so next time go with pcb board bad first (even if you think platters are damaged???) then move on to opening drive as a last resort? Just trying to figure this out so next time i dont do something so stupid...

This strange step is needed only in wd.
But, yes, when we need to open an WD, we need to play with it to finish....

Janos

[N.C.]

Did you try hard drive spray?

[N.C.]

Salvation has tools, and so does I think hdwc or hwdc or something like that,, also hdd spray WTH......... maybe I should try to freeze it first............. I am not as stupid as you think..... Just don’t know hdd's but am experimenting to learn.... What’s wrong with that?????????

Freezing it is a good idea!
And keep it until a better world comes....

Janos

[niceguy167]

nah I have almost everything due to some backups just like 25 pics I want but other than that I have everything... I am going to a raid 0 now.... but I am still going to try with this hdd... platter swap was from reading and searching and I came across those tools to do it. platter swap won't work on others like maxtor...? what about live swap of a good working pcb and sleep the drive in linux? is that just bs or is there some truth to it.. I can't imagin it workin though or if it did some valid good data would probabley end up corrupted??? well thanks to everyone for the help.. btw spray doesn't work just started smoking....... maybe I used the wrong one... lol hahah.. well we should probabley close this thread as its getting pretty big...

[rchadwick]

I'm just talking crazy here, but just throwing a bunch of crap against the wall isn't going to help. Before any attempt to repair the drive, you need to find out what's wrong. I'm not saying you won't get lucky, as it happens sometimes. Somewhere, someone recovered their data once by hitting it with a hammer. Then, they tell someone, and it becomes somewhat of an urban legend. Then, someone reads a post, and thinks a hammer can fix their drive. Freezer, anyone? Most of the time, all the crazy crap you try, instead of properly diagnosing, will ruin the data.

[thatdellguy]

I think you meant to say Raid 1. Did you try the spray?

HARD DRIVE SPRAY!!!! The amazing new fix all for hard drives with mechanical problems. Spray once, let dry, and start recovering your data. Amazing results!!! Buy your spray today while quanities last!!!

[rchadwick]

Don't be fooled. ThatDellGuy is just trying to rip you off. Hard Drive Spray is very expensive, but it's a well-kept secret that spraying the platters with clear spray paint works just as well. Just make sure it's clear, so the heads can see the platters

And I suppose this is where urban legends come from.

[rchadwick]

Also, if the drive was part of a RAID, and has logical problems, you need to use bug killer spray. If only I could remember the preferred brand...

[thatdellguy]

We have a 100% recovery success rate just like OnTrack and Seagate. It doesn't matter if your drive was thrown off the empire state building or you accidentally poured molten lava on it. Hard Drive Spray really works. Don't be fooled by cheap imitations!!!

[niceguy167]

hard drive spray... please close this thread..........

[niceguy167]

Ok, I told you guys that I don't give up... So I have recently bought me three WD400BBs I have pulled the tops off of two of them and have swapped platters and both drives function perfectly with all my data on them.... (Loaded some test data junk docs music ect... Just decided to play and learn on two of them to see what results I get) the drive I have that is defective is from jun or jul 05. Don’t have it in front of me right now... the three new drives are from December 05.... so that being said, first I interswapped some pcb's on the two drives I am experimenting with and they can still work with the different pcbs on them... some data gets mangled but for the most part they work ok.... also for the platter swap I used the same pcb that matches the platter just to make sure all function perfectly.....

So now we get to the good part... so the new drives both have a scratch on the top of the platter different from the 3 scratches my platter has.... Weird however they don’t seam to be reading from the top of the platter just from the bottom..... but having said that I decided that with the confidence of playing around with platters and pcbs for awhile I decided to take my broken drive (the fourth WD400BB from above) and insert its platter into the drive that I have not played with yet and see how it goes... well all I get from that platter is a click click click pause click click click pause click click click drives spins down.... so I am assuming that the pcb is what has died from my original hard drive (like everyone suspected before I opened it. But since I had opened it and have swapped some test platters around I wanted to put the bad drive in with all new stuff so I know that my heads are good...) so for the fun of it I took one of the pcbs from the test drive and put it on the bad hd and with the platter in a drive that worked before using a different pcb I get a click pause click pause click spin down. .... I tried taking the bad pcb and putting it on one of my test drives and all I got was the same click click click pause from above..... so my question is would pulling the rom from my bad pcb and putting it on the new pcb work.... and also which one is the rom chip on the pcb....... I hope that wasn’t too confusing.... thanks again

[scratchy]

Ok, I told you guys that I don't give up... So I have recently bought me three WD400BBs I have pulled the tops off of two of them and have swapped platters and both drives function perfectly with all my data on them....

You used the hard disk spray right ?

<itch>

[thatdellguy]

Oh for clicking noises you need the highly advanced M5-SH (Mighty 5 LB Sledge Hammer) tool. M5-SH fixes those noisy clicking hard drives with one quick swoop. You'll never know how you got by without it. We will even include the super duper HDS (Hard Drive Spray) for free with purchase of the M5-SH tool. All for the low low low price of $4999.95 plus shipping and handling. Act now as these prices are INSANE!!!!

[rchadwick]

You're too late. I think he used the clear paint instead...

Hey niceguy, I know I'm just acting like a big can of gasoline here, but can you tell us:

1) How many platters were in each drive
2) What special tools, if any, you used to swap them
3) You removed the platters from the frame, right? You did a 'platter swap', not a 'platter/frame assembly swap'

[thatdellguy]

My Guess:
Since this is a one head, one platter drive, they loosened the platter to relieve the pressure on the bottom head. Then they managed to scratch the top of the platter with the missing head while trying to move the head stack out of the way. The clicking drive probably had two heads or was damaged when dragged across the platter.