Dear All,

Alas, I am faced with a dilemma so many have faced: How much are my memories worth? My answer, not enough to justify the $2000 data recovery charge. At least I now know from the data recovery center that my problem is a head crash, therefore I am attempting a head swap between both drives.

So now I have purchased the donor drives, the Torx screwdrivers, and a lovely pair of latex gloves. Not purchased due to lack of finances:Class 100 clean room, platter realignment machine, whisky...

The specifications for both drives are:
Patient Drive - WD Scorpio Blue 750gb
MDL: WD7500BPVT - 22HXZT1
WWN: 50014EE656256A0D
DCM: EACVJHB
DCX: TH18XA7ZL
Made in Malaysia, 6 Jan 2011

Donor Drive - WD Scorpio Blue 750gb
MDL:WD7500BPVT -22HXZT1
WWN: 50014EE25AB54E31
DCM: EHCVJHBB
DCX: AH15XATZZ
Made in Thailand, 12 March 2011

I would be very glad for some advice and assistance in the following:
1) Is it imperative that the DCM numbers match completely?
2) Is there any thing I should be wary of (certain solder wires, strange bits and bobs that are attached to the head, etc).
3) If the patient drive can still be detected by USB (as in, driver installing in Win7), am I right in assuming that the PCB and electronics are still working fine, and that it is only the head which has to be replaced?

Thanks guys, wish me luck on this crazy adventure!

I think after you attempt this you will wish you had bought some of the whiskey...

Realistically, you will not reach success. If the problem is head related, many DR companies have methods of retrieving information from all heads that are not damaged. Also, after head replacement the HDD will very probably remain very unstable if it is successful. This is again something you may not be able to handle. there is the possibility of other complications such as mild damage to surface and bad sectors resulting from read attempts during failure.

without clean environment you run risk of contaminating media with dust and debris from the air. Without proper face and hair masks you can contaminate the media with hair or dead skin cells.

The gloves are latex, they are ones without powder?

The DCM is not so important on this series in my opinion.
There is much you should be aware of, such as what I have already mentioned.
Patient drive can be detected by USB - I expect this is the USB controller being recognised.

If your patient is powered through USB, can you feel the HDD spindown at any point? This is important.

Muchas Gracias, mi amigo!

Yeah, I realise that there is an astronomical risk of failure, but i have managed to get back some of my data from other drives, and no desire to pay 2k+ for recovery, so there is less fear should the DR fail.

Firstly, thanks again for the warnings. Hair nets, face masks and powderless gloves, got it. Nice touch.

When powered on the HDD gives a whirring sound, a series of clicks, and then after about 30 sec, the HDD spins down. What is the significance of this?

And also, just purely to augment my knowledge, what are DCM numbers for?

Thanks!

The fact that the disk clicks and spindle stops is consistent with Head Failure. This is why I ask.

DCM = Drive Configuration Matrix. Relates to information such as media type, preamp type, heads material etc. Not really relevant with ROYL series of WD.

I admire your determination, though I have little hope for a successful result.

Good luck though

It's a little dated ...
western-digital-what-dcm-t6488.html

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Marcus,

I find it odd that we're both experiencing the same dilemma with the EXACT same model of drives!

I am extremely interested to learn how you fair. If you can get it up long enough for one last backup, that's good enough for me too.

Let me know what you run into.