I'm new and looking for some help. My 500gb passport external drive stopped working. It spins up and I can hear the heads move but after a few seconds it shuts down. I removed the case today and the heads are parked. Platter looks new. I powered it just once to see what's going on. It spins up, the heads move to about half the platter distance 3 times. Each time it moves to only half of the platter. Then shuts off. I'm thinking head swap should do it? I'm

having trouble locating a donor drive.

My Drive:
WD5000BMVW-11AMCS0
USB
R/N 771737
DATE: 29 MAY 2011
DCM: HBOT2AN
DCX: 9AO2M4SC4

S/N WXB1A4194025

If I have 2 good platters that are not scratched, are they other methods to retrieve the data? The data is important but not MUST HAVE at all. I'm afraid of buying an expensive donor just to have it not work out. Trying to minimize cost here...

Thanks in advance,
-Jason

I'm afraid that could have been a pretty easy recovery, but once opened outside a clean room, and more importantly -specially in these 500GB WD drives-, having it spun and unpark its heads without the top cover (the heads vertical position and floating height in these models are adjusted by a screw in the top cover), possibilities might have been seriously reduced. At this point, if data is not that important for you, the best thing you can do is go and buy one of these donors you say, try it yourself, and see with your own eyes this is not that easy so you can make the right decisions in the future, when the data to recover is actually important.

Cheers

just once... ?
i love it

and now that you do ? what's next ?

let's say you right, do you have the tools and experience to do that ?

then trash it and move on

you really have to

it's too late

you welcome

Mhhh, this statement is concerning.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Yet another DIY disaster

Sadly, the number of butchered DIY "attempts" we see is doubling month on month.

Often it's been botched by "PC Expert guys" who've seen YouTube "tutorials" and it's the poor bastard who's drive they've butchered has to suffer lost data.

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PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

WOW, you are right, i didn't notice it.

This highlights the problem that occurs when people don't realise just what happens if you attempt to recover data from a hard drive when they have little or no understanding of the implications of their actions.

The fact that the drive has been opened is right at the high-end of the worst things that are seen, but there's many other DIY solutions that can be found which are attempted, which may work in a very small number of cases. There is not much worse than seeing a list of different things that a client has attempted. Most of the on-line videos are really quite alarming. It's easy though for people to ignore the articles which highlight just how things can go very wrong and lead to a total loss of data in a large number of those cases.
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http://www.DiskEng.com/ - Advanced Data Recovery Services

This forum seems to be a resting spot for individuals involved in data recovery as their means of income and as a result, there seems to be very little attempt at support. Just a bunch of fingers in my face saying "you messed up" etc etc. Jermy you took some time quoting me to make yourself feel important. You come across as pompous and a bit arrogant. Just my observations.

I frequent forums and Always help the newbs with whatever mods they are attempting on their atv's or dirt bikes etc. You are suppose to be "experts" in your field guys. But all you so called "experts" come across as arrogant. As if your more capable than anyone else. You only have more experience, not capability. Sharing experience is what anyone is after in forums, not your inflated egos.

Thanks anyways.

OK, i'll help you in your way

upload a copy of the ROM and i'll try to find you a donor

Sorry, you feel that way. Definitely not my intention.
As with many things, there is always another side to the coin.

Unlike any other common machinery where parts could be replaced and things are well once again, with storage devices is different. The issue is relegated to the medium that stores the data, which unfortunately is easily prone to damage, along with many other complexities tied in with mechanics, firmware, encryption, etc. Once the medium is damaged, there is no replacing of anything that would allow access to the data once again.

It is this very subject, the damage and the actions involved getting to cause this damage that is really irritating to dig deep for by the so-called experts. Not saying you are one, but statistically, people who happen to be in the circumstances you are in have a hard time being specific about what they did (or whoever else on their behalf did) and instead of being open and upfront, they rather hold back on information for whatever reason. I never understood why people do this.

So, it is frustrating for "the experts" on the forum to keep prying such newbies to tell what is going on.

If people would be very open and tell the entire truth, provide pics, be specific about such and such, the feedback received would be much better. Additionally, newbies have a problem accepting when they are being told there is not much they could do with what they have or know. Again, not sure why. I don't think it is reasonable for "the experts" to go on explaining about complex issues just to satisfy somebody's demands, which quite often come with a heavy feel of entitlement.

Don't take this personal, just explaining the situation, so you have better idea about the other side.

Edit: Just to clarify, as far as income goes, I am more than confident that this is likely the last place anybody would count on for income. It is not what it seems at all.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts