Hi everyone,
this is my first post, i was a student until last year, information technology about forensics investigation and 4 classes about data recovery, but i have so less experience...
i took a few days to read all the documents that are present on this board, and for first i want to say thank you to all that people that share information about this data recovery world and second i maybe didn't get everything..
focusing to my point, i have a this disk were i've stored many personal memories that i NEED to recover (talking about family memories)...the drive is a Western Digital: WD5000AAKS-00A7B0 with DCM: EBRNHT2MA, PCB: 2060-701537-003 REV A, Main Chip: Marvell 88i8845D-BHG2, Motor Chip: Smooth L2751 2.2.
The issue is a drive fault due to clicking noise and is not recognized by the bios. The hdd spin up correctly but then some clicking and then it spin down and re-start. I was thinking to the heads but then i try to google and i've found that this problem on this model could be caused by a fault PCB. i unmount the pcb and i saw that the foam was a little bit burned so i said that's the problem!
i already knew that the firmware is stored inside the marvell cpu so i bought a used drive (that already had the firmware stored). this "donor drive" had some smart problem and try to change the PCB with no luck. the problem is still the same. so i try to change the heads of the drive (i already did this on many drives in the past to increase my skills with a good results) but i didn't figured out from the problem.
i was wondering that maybe it needs a firmware reload (or re-flash) but i haven't any pc-3000 or information or else..

is there someone that can please help me?

Questa storia che "puo' essere un problema del PCB" quando parte fa un paio di "click" e si ferma/riavvia ciclicamente su questo modello nel 95% dei casi e' una CAZZATA. in 5 casi su 10 ci puo' stare, anche meno.
Avendone visti centinaia si e' verificato in massimo 4 a che mi ricordi - e comunque in quei casi con la opportuna ma ahime' costosissima strumentazione ci si e' messo 20 secondi a capire se il problema era li' o no.
Purtroppo mi duole dirti che se avevi possibilita' di recuperare i preziosi dati, te le stai giocando male (se non te le sei gia' giocate) aprendolo e tentando un difficile cambio delle testine.
Ci sarebbero altri problemi ma e' inutile parlarne (adesso).
In ogni caso , ammesso e non concesso (e per me non lo e') che il problema sia nel firmware, senza non ti dico il PC3000 UDMA che costa tra una cosa e l'altra 10'000 euro ma anche con qualcosa di "meno" costoso (ma che devi saper usare, nessuno ti spieghera' che fare) non puoi far nulla.

This thing about being the PCB when this kind of drive clicks and spindown/restart is BULLSHIT on 95% times (can be on 5% or less).
Having seen hundreds of them, as far as I remember it was a problem in the board in max. 4, and anyway with the appropriate (alas, highly priced) gear it took 20 seconds to pinpoint the problem.
Sadly, I regret to inform you that if there were good chances about recovering your precious data, you have decreased them if not zero'ed at all by opening the drive and attempting a difficult headswap.
There would be other problems but it is pointless to talk about it (now).
Assuming it's a firmware/board problem (and to me it is not), without PC3000 UDMA that is in the 10'000 EUR price range or something "cheaper" (that you should always know how to operate, nobody will teach you how), there's nothing you can do.

thanks for your reply.
the drive is now closed and is in the same state as before. when i changed the heads, i was in a white room, with the appropriate tools, so i guess there is no problem to the platter (that contains my data). i was wondering, is there a way to check the firmware? the donor drive has SMART problems. is SMART data collected on the pcb? if yes, i had a donor pcb already damaged.
also, when i look for the donor drive, i checked the model, the pcb label and microchip that was the same. is there any other data that i have to check, like the DCM? or what i should know if i would like to put the platters into a brand new drive?

thanks for your support

io non sono un esperto e di mestiere non mi occupo di recupero dati, sono solo un appassionato di questo mondo del data recovery, ma ti posso dire da quello che ho letto tante volte su questo forum, che per fare il "platter swap" su un disco donatore, ti serve un tool apposito altrimenti se tiri fuori i platters manualmente perdi la sincronia angolare tra essi, e poi sono cavoli. Ciao.

_________________
My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI

Bastasse solo quello, chiunque lo venderebbe e tutti lo farebbero. Invece....

(If only a tool for platter swap was needed , everybody would do it. Unfortunately....)

so che servono gli estrattori ecc..
ho chiesto aiuto qui sul forum per capire meglio cosa\come fare, visto che non trovo libri o aziende in cui poter fare esperienza.
non sono improvvisato, so cosa toccare e cosa no, so che le testine sono delicate ecc, ma non so tutto, quindi chiedevo aiuto.
BlackST, tu fai DR per lavoro? se si, posso avere qualche delucidazione\consiglio da te?

i know that needs tools and equipment..i'm not offhanded!
i just asked for help to know what\how to do next, because i'm not finding any books or company where to do some experience.
BlackST, do you do DR for work? may I have some advice\suggestion from you?

Si, lo faccio per lavoro. E' quella la fregatura.

Yes it's my job, and that's the real turn-off.



P.s. my inbox is full and I plan to empty it in July, 2015. Remember that on Dec. 21,2012 the world (and HDD problems) should have an end...

ok i got it..but if you cannot be helpfull why you answer to this? just to say, oh it's hard, it needs equipment etc? ok, thank you..


Is there anyone else that has suggestion or advice?

Allora in due parole : COSA VORRESTI ?

Then in a nutshell, WHAT EXACTLY do you want from us ?

maybe I would like to had a different answer instead of it's hard and bla bla bla..maybe, a more constructive answer. but it's ok, thank you for your time.

Prego.
You're welcome