I have WD5000AAKS-00TMA0 that presented as bad heads (loud clicking/spindown, no modules accessible after hot-swap). After head-swap with good donor, drive now very quietly click, almost like calibration noise, and then spins down. The noise is similar to noise that happens when non-native pcb is attached to a similar drive.

I don't think I have alignment issue here, as far as I can tell from reading posts about this drive series. I am wondering about microjog/preamp settings in ROM. Has anyone had any luck with 'averaging' these values in SD tools to match heads with ROM? Any advice?

Sounds like heads were not a close enough match (without some extra fiddling)

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Bro ,
Do We Have a auto average Thing in Sd Tools .I Do Not Think so .In ACe tool i think they have this

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Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Using PC3K, I don't think I recall ever having a case where averaging the microjogs made the difference between being able to image and not

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

You need to find another head that the date is closer on this one or DCM. The SD tool microjog can not do this one for you. Your heads are not a good match on this one and that is why it is is clicking.

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Iorana Haraharaini

Ann ,
How Are You These Days .I think this suggestion Should Be Tried Once .

@ DRC : Seriously Sir has it never made a difference .its a feature ace cannot stop ranting about .

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Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Not in my experience. But for me it is easier to get better-matching heads than go messing around with tweaking adaptive values.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Regarding microjogs, there seems to be conflicting information on how useable this behavior is when doing a HSA swap in 3.5 WD. PC3K users say they have had luck using an averaging of ROM microjogs in some situations. Then SD adds the feature to their tool (without explaining its usefulness) which makes me think that there is something more here for newer WD.

For what it's worth, the patient drive is:

WD5000AAKS-00TMA0
5/16/07
HANCHV2AHB

Donor is:

WD5000AAKS-00TMA0
3/20/08
HHRCHV2AHB

Date is definitaly way off, but DCM seemed very close so I tried it anyway. In a nutshell, WD 3.5 just plain suck.

Shawn

Well ,
did you see one posting on salvation forums .one gentlemen had luck just with dates check that post out

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Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Sir ,
Thanks For sharing Such Practical Experience .Appreciate It

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Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Totally agree.
But OP's comment later shows the heads should be compatible.

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With WD they are strange. A drive that is made on same date and has a very close DCM will not work at all. From what I have seen on this one looks like the batches they make come with different heads and not all the heads are the same on each drive made on same date.

His drive looks like a good match but the heads are not right on this one. He should try and find another set of heads that can be used. Some times heads that you think would never work in this drive work. They do not follow the rules of this one for some reason.

As for microjog I agree it is not a good one to play around with and use. I told them this on the SD forum but they still seem to think that the PC3K is magic and microjog is a must on this tool. But if you start looking into WD drives you will find out newer models do not use microjog at all. The older ones do. I do not find it useful in newer WD drives to try and tweak these adaptives. It is better to try another head on this one.

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Iorana Haraharaini

I have posed this same question in the SD forums, also with mixed replies. The only conclusion(s) that I have come up with are that either Ann is 100% correct and something else is happening with users who adjust microjogs on newer WD drives with success, or that microjog values are stored in different areas of ROM on newer drives and PC3K users are reaping the benefits of this added feature. Pretty much drives me crazy.

All I know is that I spent $120 for a donor drive and am back at square 1. Fun times.

Are you sure the original PCB is native? Have you compared the date codes on the chips against the date code on the label?

Is it possible that the original PCB has a "mimic" fault in addition to the heads being faulty???

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I don't think the PCB is at fault in this case. Before doing the HSA swap, I tested the patient PCB with another drive's ROM and it worked on that drive. Thanks for the input though.

I have almost given up on head swaps for most of the newer model 500GB or larger WD drives. In a lot of cases that I get, when the heads are bad, there is also visable or hidden platter damage that takes out the new heads regardless of whether the heads are a perfect match or not. It is difficult to get customers to pay for donor drives with no recovery. In my opinion, the current crop of hard drives are being made cheaper and cheaper. Successful head swaps are becoming a hit and miss process and not worth the risk of buying donor hard drives that end with no recovery. Just my opinion. I am curious has anyone experienced this problem?

Have you had a chance to put the part's heads back in the part chassis and test to see if all heads work?

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