Hi, I am in the process of performing a head swap from my damaged 80gb Maxtor. Would someone either point me to, or share what criteria I need to match to the donor drive? I believe you need to match the code "YAR41BW0" exactly, but what about the 4 letters after that (ex: "K,C,M,D")? Do you need to match all 4? I've heard the first and last letter are necessary.

Thanks for any insight

Just becasue it is bad what leads you to believe it is a head problems and needs to be swapped out. What tools have you used to diagnose this problem with?

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Iorana Haraharaini

The hard drive was clicking - I used a multimeter and checked the drive. It came back as a dead preamp.

Then change the preamp

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Iorana Haraharaini

are u joking? Or trolling ?

Maxtor hard drive donor

* Alphabetic Code (Yellow)
The 3rd letter that is highlighted is important for matching the head-stack.
* PCBA/Uplevel (Blue)
For matching PCB; always match the 3rd and 4th characters away from the END of the code.
* Mfg. Date (Red)
Not necessary, but good to get as close as you can (a drive made in a different year may use different materials/parts, even if the other numbers match)
* Country (Green)
It is always good to match country if possible no matter what. Different countries use different materials and parts. This is very important for matching heads.
* Interface/PCB code (Purple)
This code is relevant for matching the PCB; match the whole code.

Info was on the net. Its old , but ur drive is old as well. Cant guarante if its correct or not , but at least its something.

Ill pm u the number for the guys who source the hdds for me

are u joking? Or trolling ?

[/quote]

Changing preamp is not so impossible, just need right equipment. BTW what is trolling?

Hddguy , can u honestly say that anyone will go through the pain of changing a preamp , when its so much easier to just swap heads ?

And trolling? Well sir , trolling is a sin =)
(some ppl consider it to be agift though or even an aart form)

How can you be so sure about preamp health with multimeter only .... Good luck. I would have checked the SA before, but without proper tools it's impossible.

Here's a better one:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=trolling

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

Looks like i am a little behind everyone else here when it comes to my web slang

Are you more comfortable with military slang ?

Preamp replacement: I did it many times with success. Why woudl it be trolling?


pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Ann was NOT trolling, it was a suggestion. But of course not for everyone.

Replacing a headstack is a lot easier then replacing a preamp chip ( that thing is just to damned sensetive , plus because of its placement u need to dismount the heads anyway ) Suggesting an obviously more difficult way can be classified as trolling in my book.
I hope that ur personal irritation with me will not get in the way of logic gents.

You didn't understand. I meant that replacing ONLY the preamp chip, beside the suggestion, is NOT for everyone. Of course replacing the headstack is "easier" (it is more probable to have common tools for mechanical rework than precision soldering equipment in common labs).

I would go for chip replacement if it is a last resort or in case of donor shortage, but it's me. I have no problems with TSSOP/SO chips on flex, but on some HS it's flipchip and it's very very difficult.

I understood u right in this case , BlackST. Even u go for chip replacement as a last resort. So suggesting a preamp replacement to OP was trolling ( trolling has a wide range of explanations , suggeting smth that is so much harder than it needs to be can be considerd ) Any case. Lets not get stuck on this and move on. =)

BTW I was not trolling. He said he traced the problem with a Volt meter to his preamp. Wow. Of course replace the head stack. It is a lot easier to do.

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Iorana Haraharaini

I still have doubts as the drive is only CLICKING and no reference to the "Maxtor music" ... and about the checking procedure. But without seeing the drive it is impossible to tell.

This is where DDA comes really helpful. 100% exact diagnose in 1 minute ... ok, 2 minutes