what are the chances of transplanting the actual hard disks inside the drive to another identical drive and it actually working?

You would need a special tool to swap the platters. If the DATA is important then you would need to get help from a professional. Even a little mistake will kill the drive, the head and the platters are very sensitive.

what kind of tool do i need and how do i get it?

You could save us, and yourself a whole lot of time, and likely your data, if you tell us what drive you intend on swapping platters, and why.

Please DO NOT try this yourself.

It's possible to transfer an engine from one car to another, but would I attempt it? Would I F***!!

It's possible to to heart transplants, but....

It requires VERY specialist tools, a clean room and a good deal of skill and experience!

Cheers

Sean

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

its a western digital caviar wd2500jb

With respect....

NO CHANCE!!!

But seriously, why do you think a platter transplant is the solution? It's probably the hardest thing to do on this model!

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

i actually ripped that little chip on the bottom of the hard drive below the pcb board off

Don't hold back dchiuch. These guys are making it look more difficult than it really is. It's really quite simple with the inexpensive HDS and M5-SH tools. Our tools have a 100% success rate just like Ontrack. With one swoop you'll have instant satisfaction and success. You'll never know how you got by without these tools.

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Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

i actually ripped that little chip on the bottom of the hard drive below the pcb board off

If the data is important, send it to a Data Recovery company. Your chances of doing it yourself are very slim, and anything you do can ruin someone else's chance of recovery. If you still see this as a do-it-yourself kind of thing, you will wind up with a pile of drive parts, and an 'oh shit' kind of feeling.

If you're still going to do this, at least send us a pic of what's broken. I'm not sure what's breakable outside the drive that's not actually on the PCB, unless if you somehow broke the Head assembly connector.

Simple

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Like rchadwick said ,
Give us the pic of the broken part we can guide u better .

@thatdellguy...
The tools are in bundle with the magic HDD SPRAY I have seen in your infomercial last night ? (the one that also works for sinks, for car ECMs, antennas, cell phone and food processor ?):D LOL

... seriously...

A close picture of the "damage" could explain all.