Hi

Currently I'm looking at an Seagate ST3250823AS (Barracuda 7209.8. ) with bad heads. In my donor box I only got an IDE 80gb ST3802110AS (Barracuda 7200.9) drive. Will the latter heads work in the patient? Or do I need to get another ST3250823AS?
Also, will I need to modify the FW/SA to make the new heads work?

Definitely not.


Definitely yes. But not any of ST3250823AS, you have to find ST3250823AS with compatible heads type.

As I wrote before: If the data is important then you (or data recovery professional probably) have to swap the heads from a donor drive. And it's better to have proper heads replacement tools because of internal parking area (close to spindle motor), these drives does not have an external parking ramp.


Oh yeah, because we are talking about regular Barracuda 7200.X (not F3). ACE Lab (R) PC-3000 can do this.

Actually, without proper equipment, knowledge and experience I'm totally sure you'll lost your data forever. Bring your drive to a data recovery lab.