I'm working with a WD drive from the ROYL family and I'm trying to conclude whether or not the issue is bad heads. In WD HD Doctor, FW modules cannot be read and heads 0 and 1 are unchecked after attempting to view the heads map. The drive spins up fine, but it takes longer than what is normal for these drives to go ready. Does this sound like a sure case of bad heads?

Royl head map is not support properly in SD. It claims that 0&1 are missing which is correct, but it neglects to mention that 6&7 exist.

Generally speaking the head map on a 500Gb Royl is 2,3,4,5,6,7

Check the PCB.

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Thanks for the response; my first thought was that the PCB was bad. There's visible discoloration on the cushion of the PCB around the MCU, and I know that PCB issues run rampant in this family of drives. I have a compatible donor, but hot swapping did not allow me to access the FW modules either. If the issue is indeed PCB related, can this job be done using HD Doctor? Feel free to PM me with details.