Hey guys, my first post here!
Let me try and explain my story so you can maybe help me:

Years ago, around 2008, I had my Spinpoint SP1614C Samsung HDD running as an external, in a case.
Accidentally it fell on the floor and stopped being recognized by windows. I had pics of all my life trips there and had no backup =(
I sent it to recovery companies but they all asked me for a lot of money, which I couldn't afford.

After that I kept thinking about trying a DYI fix. I know it's always not advised to do this.
I bought two identical HDD's, the same model and everything as the broken one, thinking about a platter swapping. But I have not the tool that technicians use to swap it.

Here is a link to the noise that it is making. I think, after reading and watching dozens of vids, it is a stuck spindle motor. Cause I can't here noises of the motor running, but just those clic clic clic.

http://youtu.be/79-ZEMuUfng

Is it possible to make a spindle unstuck tool? The ones I found are soooo expensive!

I already tried to exchange PCB's of all of the drives but nothing happened. The noise is always the same on the broken one.

I read a lot about freezing the drive and I always thought its b*llsh*t. Can anyone confirm it to me?

Is there anything I can do before opening it? I bought 2 identical drives. one for trying and learning and the other one to be the receiver of the "precious" platter. I have no clean room.

Here are a couple of pics of the HDD.





Thank you everyone, hope something nice can be done yet =)

Felipe

If the disk makes a noise, then obviosuly its spindle is good, so no motor unstuck tool or paltterswap will help.

I appreciate that DR can be expensive, but its your only option here. You clearly dont have enough information about DR processes and tools, and no experience and (I assume) no set environment for any repairs.

If you DIY this you will likely lose your data forever, or simply incur additional recovery costs due to contamination etc.

Maybe if you supply a DR firm with the parts you have it'll save you some $$ from the total recovery. But im 99% sure that if you DIY this you will not reach your data

Option #1 : be prepared to loose everything and open it, follow youtube videos and tutorials and try to make it work again. Sometimes "who dares wins" , the only thing at play is your data.

Option #2 : wait for better times (but stop tinkering with it) and store in a safe place until you can afford pro intervention (note : some case are beyond recovery anyway)

Option #3 : give a realistic budget (no, it's not 100 $) and try to find someone who can handle your case.

I don't see anything else. Good luck.

Hey hddguy. I actually opened it the day it fell on the floor. I was young and thought it was the right way to make it run again! The platters where stuck (while powered off) and the heads could move freely.
I sent it to some DR expert and they told me this huge amount of money would probably save it.
It would be awesome to send it to a person who really works with this, but here in Brazil it is really expensive, like 2500 (more than 1000 dollars) I assume that in usa it's also this, right?

So opinions tell me not to open it in any case! I am a person who's used to fix things and hardware problems, but actually not HDD's.
Don't know...I was really excited about trying to fix it, but it is really a way to possibly losing the data forever =/

Any other comments will be welcome!

Thanks guys,
Felipe Cohen

1) As it was opened and "touched" it is contaminated .

2) The heads were moving FREELY..... ACROSS THE PLATTERS ? So you moved them BY HAND with platters NOT SPINNING and actually TOUCHING the surface.

With only these 2 elements given, I seriously doubt any reasonable tech would give you any FREE assessment neither give you any warranty about recovering data (chances of media damage are close to 100%).

Personally I would decline every request of free evaluation in such case , and it would be a step-by-step and pay per step regardless of outcome (decontamination, analysis, swap and then "if possible" recovery of data.

Sorry for being realistic.

It's "nice" to hear that, BlackST! I sent it to the biggest company where I live and they analyzed it for free. But because it was really expensive I sent it to another one that asked me for something around 200 dollars just to analyze it because it was already opened.

And YES, the heads where moving freely but I didn't move them a lot. Just to check if they weren't stuck. =/

I think I'm a little stu.pid...but that's ok... hahaha

BlackST, you think after hearing the noise and knowing this information about the heads, it should be stuck spindle? It doesn't actually makes the spinning noise. Just this tectectectectec...

It is BROKEN spindle.

Would you trust an engine with bent crankshaft ? Not me.

Hahaha not really...

I am in the process of doing just that, swapping platters, as I seen a very interesting site that some guy did it and he got the data off, more then likely you will not be able to continue to use the old drive again after you tinker with its guts, but getting the data off the HDD is the main concern, you could always copy it to a DVD Disk or another hard drive, when I accomplish what I am gonna do I will let you know how I did if its successful.

Hey John50ish, good luck with that! I hope it works!!
Can you send me this website where this guy could make it?
I'm a little (actually a lot) afraid of opening it and trying to recover data because I assume you understood I have no experience with that! But I'm watching lots of tutorials and tips to try some good ideas...or maybe don't touch it and send to a specialist.

If I get it to work, I will just charge you for the postage and the disk I copy it to which is pennies compared to a specialist.

To many ifs! I really support enthusiasts and adventurers but, again, to many ifs.

Sorry to say that this sounds like a disaster (or two) waiting to happen

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@felipehdd and @John50ish

May I suggest you could both do a little test before you destroy your data forever.

Take your 100% working doner drive then open it and remove the head assembly. Then remove the platters. After you can reassemble everything just as it was before. No swapping required! If after all this the reassembled doner drive is still working then you might have aquired the minimum skills to do the platter/head swap. And you now might have evened the odds rather than have no chance of success.

+1

Yeah, man! That was the idea. In my case, I have 2 working donors. One for practice and one for the real job. But I'm still afraid of trying it hahaha

Hey guys,
I was searching the internet about the sp1614c drive and found a picture where it is possible to see there are platter spacers!

- How can I remove those spacers avoiding to touch the platter surface??? Is it possible? With a normal platter swapping tool it wouldn't be possible, right?

- Is it possible to recover the data nowadays after a misallignment of the platters when swapping?
I saw a video where a man removes platters one by one and reassembly them on the donnor, than recovers everything!

Can anyone please try to explain this to me?

Thanks,
Felipe

Here is the video of the platter swap (salvation data)
http://youtu.be/evkDiFvruGU