WD resurrection after drop?

[revis]

Hi everybody,

Today I accidentally dropped my WD My Passport Ultra 2TB (when turned off), I connected it to the PC but it is not being recognized and I can hear several beeps coming from it.

From Linux, via dmesg I can see:

[ 7013.128694] ses 16:0:0:1: Attached Enclosure device
[ 7013.128893] ses 16:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 13
[ 7021.139411] ses 16:0:0:1: Failed to get diagnostic page 0x8000002
[ 7021.139435] ses 16:0:0:1: Failed to bind enclosure -19
[ 7021.142071] sd 16:0:0:0: [sdb] Spinning up disk...
[ 7022.147815] ..
[ 7023.796065] usb 4-1.2: USB disconnect, device number 12

I watched several videos and it seems that the problem is due to the head (stuck). I then disassembled my HD, here it is:

http://s12.postimg.org/pddqb7kyl/fixed.jpg

It doesn't seem stuck as I saw in those videos, I tried also to move it and to move the the orange thing where the head is "parked" but no result, still same beeps..


Any suggestion?

[jermy]

I hope the data on it isn't important

[Keatah]

Looks like repair by replacement now that it was opened outside of a clean room.. Or a big bill to clean and recover.

[ellakaren]

Hello Revis,

Looks like head crash, you need to seek professional assistance for this. if the data on the hdd then go for data recovery.

Never open hdd on your own the chances of data recovery becomes difficult

[day1data]

I'm afraid recovery chances now will be very low as the drive was opened outside a clean room.
There is nothing you can do the fix this drive yourself, you will have to take it to a professional data recovery center if the data is important.

I can recommend a few places if you tell us your location.

[galaxy]

CAN YOU CHANGE PCB

[jermy]

PCB ?
for a dropped drive ?
after it was opened outside a clean environment ?

[revis]

Hey guys,

first of all thank you for your replies. I know I've opened it out of a totally clean room, but inside there wasn't data worth of 2000$
I know that once opened, repair chances are lower but I have read that many times you can solve these kind of problems "just" fixing the head.

The platters look fine, it's just the actuator that doesn't seem moving

[revis]

another thing, could you please recommend me any nice book/ tutorial / white paper about this topic?

I can recommend a few places if you tell us your location.

Italy

[jono-ats]

Here is a white paper for ya.

Please note that it is entitled, "Best Practices", not "How to Perform a Miracle Outside of a Clean Room."

Attachments

Best Practices - Final.pdf

(2.97 MiB) Downloaded 680 times

[DRUG]

I know that once opened, repair chances are lower but I have read that many times you can solve these kind of problems "just" fixing the head.

JUST, he said :'(

[jermy]

The platters look fine, it's just the actuator that doesn't seem moving

just because it looks fine with a naked eye, doesn't mean it's really fine
some things can't be seen with a naked eye and needs a microscope to examine.
there are things that can't be seen with a microscope and needs a multimeter for that, like the preamp... so...
regarding the opening of the drive outside of a clean environment, take look on the picture to understand the meaning and the consequences of opening a drive outside a clean environment even for a split second

[jono-ats]

It seems that every day we get in a drive that has been opened and tinkered with.

Our flat rate charges were not meant to include the extra time and materials required to overcome the damage that is almost inevitably created. In many cases, we try to recover data. But if the damage is extreme or resulting from gross negligence and / or stupidity, we simply refuse and refer them to the high cost firms.

Folks who make recoveries much harder by damaging or compromising their drives SHOULD pay extra for the "privilege."

It's a shame, because often they simply kill any chance for a decent recovery.

[pepe]

"just" fixing the head.

try putting it in the freezer for a couple of hours, it always works for me
Take the lid off in order to get better results.

[pepe]

excuse me for the above post, i could not stand

Seriously speaking, it is not something for DIY. Even if you managed to change the heads without damaging anything, it would be a challenge to get it work, not to mention that without appropriate cloning tool your chances to get the data are close to zero.
Drives are like women, you have to understand quite some principles if u want to get somewhere with them

[day1data]

Lets say you pull off a miracle and manage to swap the head cleanly.

A drive will never work 100% again after a head swap. You will need hardware imaging tools that can handle drive errors / firmware errors that you will encounter.

If fixing a head was so easy, all us DR pro's would be out of jobs.

[northwind]

It's a shame, because often they simply kill any chance for a decent recovery.

I sometimes get angry because we receive drives that would stand good chances for a 100% recovery, and I see that their owners ARE willing to pay money for the data (ie. they accept to pay non-refundable cash to cover parts and labor), yet they have already sent that drive to "someone", who tried every single stupid thing they saw on YT.
It's sad, because people loose important data.

[pcimage]

It's a shame, because often they simply kill any chance for a decent recovery.

I sometimes get angry because we receive drives that would stand good chances for a 100% recovery, and I see that their owners ARE willing to pay money for the data (ie. they accept to pay non-refundable cash to cover parts and labor), yet they have already sent that drive to "someone", who tried every single stupid thing they saw on YT.
It's sad, because people loose important data.

Yep, we see it almost every day now

[revis]

Here is a white paper for ya.

Please note that it is entitled, "Best Practices", not "How to Perform a Miracle Outside of a Clean Room."

Thank you

[revis]

hey guys,

thank you for your posts
5
Yes, I knew before opening it that it was not the best solution to preserve the data but there's no vital data in there and as I said, unfortunately, I can't afford 2000$ just to recover that data. So, if there is a chance to make it work again, knowing of course that it will be not a drive where to store important data, I would like to take it and try it. I know for sure that many people bring the HD to people that have not a clean room, and even if they have for sure a lot more experience than me, I would like to learn these skills because I'm sure it can happen other times it's just me, I would suggest to any other friend to bring the HD to experts, not to me for sure ( at least now ).