Dear Friends,
I am new to the Forum.
I have a problem.My WD Elements 500gB HDD 2,5" fell down. After that it starts spinning for 3 seconds and then stops.
A technician heard it with a microphone and told me to send it to a recovery company.

I have 10 year files stored that gone and I want to recover it by myself cause thw cost of data recovery is high.

Can I replace the needles of my own? Can I find replacement equipment from somewhere?
My idea is to change either the needles on the damaged disk or transfer the platters to a new disk.
I will try first to dissasembley and assembeley an older disk for example

How do I start? I have seen videos that show how to remove it. Do i need a air filtered box?Or what else should I do?

Thank you for creating and supporting this forum

Oh dear...

OK, we'll throw in a 20% discount if you stop now and send us the drive before you start following those "instructions" from YT.
Somehow I have a feeling this drive is already butchered.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

If you want your data stop what you're doing at this stage.

The chances of successfully swapping your heads and recovering data on your kitchen table without any prior experience or tools is tiny. Send it in - take Northwind up on the offer, professional recovery from the drive will not get any cheaper after messing with it, once you open the drive body most of us have either an open drive fee or won't take the device.

_________________
Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

Ok! thanks

Thanks

If you really have a valuable data on the drive, my advice is to send the drive to Northwind.
I believe they are know exactly what they are doing and will help you retrieving your valuable data.

It's not only replacing heads/platters. There are other several things happens within the recovery process.

Good luck.

Ok thanks, I see many people recommend Northwind in Greece.

Sadly hard drives are very sensitive devices and once dropped or damaged are only recoverable by a data recovery company. The needles are specific to that drive, the disks can get scrashed or damaged easily if the cover is removed. With 10 years of data on that drive you really should have a regular backup.

If you try to fix yourself, it won't work... lots of people tried... Always fails sadly, these drives are not like changing a record. Sadly... Hopefully the cost will not be much, and if you get your data back, always keep a regular backup...

Thanks, I appreciate the effort to explain the situation.
The paradox is that I had it as a backup.But things go wrong.