idropped my freeagent external hd and it wouldn't spin took it to local repair shop who said motor was dead. i opened it found spindle frozen and tried to free it but would not turn freely.I want to transfer the discs to a donor hdd but can't find exact match.will a similar internal sata unit work if I exchange the pcb with mine along with the discs? I'm confident Ican perform the transfer but not sure about taking a sata and making it a usb compatable drive ie is the firmware and other info contained on the pcb interchangable.

If you have the skills to successfully transfer the platters then you would also have the skills to work with the PCB, if not and your data is of any value I suggest you get in touch with a professional data recovery company or you will lose all your data - cheers

This is so very wrong on so many levels

Unfortunately you have 0% chance of DIY on this case.

If you need data then seek pro assistance (it won't be cheap, especially as you've messed about with it) otherwise just bin it.

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http://www.pcimage.co.uk

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Thank you for the good laugh !

It is easy to move the platters.... It is hard to do it right so the drive works when you are done.

I could train a monkey to do platter swaps. But i can guarantee none of the drives would ever work again.

So.... yeah... zero chance of doing it right.... and the risk of permanent data loss 99.999999%

I'd say 100%.

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Hi,

I think you have already lost the data in the process you have performed on you hard disk. So forgot about data.

GK

Another DIY gone wrong.
If your data is very valuable, pack the dirve as it is ,
search for a proper professional (not the LOCAL REPAIR SHOP you tried before)who is willing to take up the job after knowing the story so far.
There are chances of getting something out of your drive, but it is going to cost you too.