Hi,

Got a drive in, looks to be bad heads after some board diagnostics. The info for the patient is:

WD1200JB-00EVA0
DCM: HSCHCVJAH

Went to swap heads, and both donors (listed below) had incompatible headstacks (the patient has a head on top, and the donors do not). As opposed to throwing money into a hole (and stocking up on WD 120GB in the process) can anyone see a flaw here?

Donor 1:
WD1200JB-00EVA0
DCM: HSBACVJAH

Donor 2:
WD1200JB-32EVA0
DCM: DSCHCVJAH

Donor 2's date was 9 days before the patient. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Regards,

Dizi

Look in to original design of the model.

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160Gb

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PC Image Data Recovery
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WD varies head maps on some models. E.g., if you have a drive with two platters and three heads, any of them can be turned off or missing.

Pcimage gave you a clue for ensuring that you don't amass a pile of incompatible drives. Of course there are other things to worry about ... like lid alignment on this series.

Power up the PCB by itself and carefully check the discrete components below the Smooth IC. If they burn your fingers, you have a bad PCB AND bad heads.

These drives can be tricky. Without the proper gear and experience, your chances of a successful recovery are slim to none.

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Like jono implies, the heads compatibility is the LEAST of the issues facing you on this drive

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PC Image Data Recovery
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New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Jono,
The PCB is good. Alignment of the heads due to lid is a big concern for these, and that is something that we are prepared to manually work around once we replace the heads.

Pcimage,
If I'm not mistaken, you're saying that this is technically a 160GB drive (in terms of potential size) but WD has disabled the top head to make it 120? Makes sense I guess for cheaper manufacturing reasons. Strange that the one that is so close (and earlier, mind you) is different in design though.

I guess my question is - short of opening every 120GB WD drive we have in inventory and checking which one has 4 heads (then reading in the heads map off of that one), how can I check on the map so I may alter the new set of 3 heads to work with it? Or do I even need to alter it?

Regards,

Dizi

Use heads from a 160 GB drive. There won't be a "missing" head.

You can also do heads map without taking the lid off of a drive, assuming you have the proper gear. What are you working with?

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Jono,

Salvation Data WD Doctor. Have PC3K, but it is not preferred.

What should I look for for heads then? Just the 5th and 6th DCM and a WD1600JB, or should I try for the full model and get a WD1600JB-XXEVA0 also?

Dizi

No luck finding a donor for this drive. Anyone have one they would be willing to sell that would match the specs needed?

Regards,

Dizi