So basically your saying, you must buy your training to get the tools? What experience and qualifications do you have? I have watched a few of your videos and they are laughable, i'm sure on one it looked like the technician was about to drop the platter, then the video cut to another scene. I especially like the finger condoms you use, I might order some for extra protection for my next night out.

I don't wish to be rude, but all the training in the world can't disguise the fact the tools are shit. Not unless the training consists of hypnosis and brain washing techniques.

I've said my piece.

So, it means, that all the gurus who are not satisfied with the base design of your tools, are simply morons, who have never done any kind of platter/head swap, or either don't know how to use such tools. And, to use the tools, one must come to India to get the training, no matter from where he is coming. He lives wherever in ths world, he has to travel along to India, just to handle your tools.

And what great examples you have given. It kinda means that we neither know recitifying PCB problems, nor we are able to use the screw drives perfectly. We put the T5 in a T8 Screw.

That's simply great...I like your response and the way you responded......

_________________
I just hate spammers...It was a Spammer, who ruined my life!

They just post earlier prepared messages.

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

It means they know it that their tools are shit and will be called so, thus they prepared the message in advance..

It's even more great..

_________________
I just hate spammers...It was a Spammer, who ruined my life!

I have dead 500gig Western Digital drive with the click of death.
I know it's not the PCB. I just need a tool to swap the heads.

I've done everything from modding game consoles to repairing cell phones, TVs, and of course servers and workstations - so I'm very familiar with all types of electronic equipment. Though I've never done a head swap before, I know that it's not that difficult with the right tools.

PLEASE - sorry to repeat myself, but - If anyone knows of a reputable source for a 4 platter head swap tool, leave a reply. If anyone has instructions to build one using regular home/toolbox items, please leave a reply.

I would try to build one myself, but the HDRC tools damaged my test drives so I have no other 4 platter drives to "play" with until I get the tool built properly.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



PS..
HDRC Team - why bother posting in this forum?
It's obvious your "company?" is a fake since you neither offer a refund for your laughable tools nor a replacement with valid tools. You simply stop responding and adjust your website to keep the "scam" going. I can only hope that Ganesha's mouse bites you one day.


Cheers

Are you sure it isn't the firmware? How did you confirm that it wasn't the PCB? You are likely right, but I would try a hot swap before killing myself with a head swap.



The only thing that the head replacement tools do is hold the heads apart for protection and assistance when re-installing the heads. The rest of the procedure is up to you. If all else fails, take a hard drive clam shell, cut a 2" x 1/2" strip, fold it in half. It works wonders on 3.5" hard drives. For for heads, make 4 of them.

I'm curious to know why you would want to invest so much money into trying to get your data back. It seems to me that it would be cheaper to pay a professional data recovery lab to successfully get your data back than for you to purchase all the tools necessary to deal with such a problem. I can pretty much guarantee that if you are correct and the heads are bad, you will still need to deal with a lot of bad sectors. It is possible that you may have to change the heads multiple times, if the media damage it bad enough. You may even find that the media damage is so bad that the only thing you are successful at doing is destroying an expensive donor drive's heads.

If you are serious about getting into the full data recovery service industry and plan to be doing a lot more recovery jobs than this, then it is worth investing in the right tools. If you are just trying to recover the files off a single hard drive, I'd say that you are wasting your money.

Should you go forward with the process, please follow up with how you made out...I'm curious to know.

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Donor Inventory: 5,000+ Fully Cataloged HDDs & Growing

How do you plan and fixing the head alignment? Data Recovery can't be done by anyone who has access to some tools, theres a lot more to consider. Seriously, you should stop wasting your money and your time on tools, maybe more time researching companies who can fix your problem.

Thanks for the replies.

1. The doner drive is nearly the exact same everything - manufactured about a day later than the "click of death" drive. I swapped the PCB and still got the same result.

2. I'm a do it myself kind of person (as frustrating as that is) and I would like to learn how to do this. From what I've learned so far - the first step is the right tool(s). The next step, well... I assumed I would figure that out once I found the right tool(s). If I have some bad sectors - it's not the end of the world for me. I can always re-download the broken programs or files.

No - I'm not trying to start my own data recovery business - so don't think I'm trying to take money out of anyones pockets. I'm just a pc enthusiast and a hard drive is about the last device I've tried to or had to fix. So far it's been an interesting challenge.

The main reason I started posting in this forum was to point out that HDRC is a joke and hopefully to find a descent tool. So far, I think I've helped (a little) to promote the fact that HDRC is a company to avoid. It sucks that they have $100 of mine but, sometimes it's the price us ignorant suckers have to pay to learn how to do something.

Even though I'm not interested in going into the business - I am interested in buying the right tools for the job if I ever need to or want to recover data in the future. Links, offers, suggestions, and criticism would all be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again to everyone for the replies....

Cheers

Learning the skills required for data recovery takes many years experience. If your aim is to 'learn' for a single failed drive, you will fail. This is the truth of it.

That is where you are completely wrong.

Those models a tough cases to solve.

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

i have here also some models to resolve some problems.

_________________
ZeBong
" что случилось в России - останется в России "
" Россия еще раз"

Without moving the ROM, you cannot be sure that the PCB is good.



It is more than just some bad sectors and a few damaged files. It could mean that you have a very short period of time before the drive takes out the new heads. Without high end imaging tools (like Deepspar Disk Imager), you could find yourself burning through several donor drives before the drive completely gives up the ghost.

Good tools = tens of thousands of dollars. You have that much money to spare just in case you want to play some more?

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Donor Inventory: 5,000+ Fully Cataloged HDDs & Growing

My appologies for evoking what appears to be some mild levels of irritation.
How will I learn anything without asking or trying?
(I did mention that I'm an ignorant noob trying to learn about this process.)

So far - all I've learned is that:

A. It's a profitable business to be in (once the expensive tools and software have been paid off)
B. It's difficult and unsuccessful in some cases even after lots of experience.
C. There are very-very few people willing to talk about the process because of (trade secrets) which I fully respect and understand.
D. There's a whole other process for data recovery after successfully swapping the click of death heads in a hard drive.

Oh, and
E. Avoid HDRC - especially if one is a noob!


Maybe I should try swapping the platters instead.....
(just kidding)

Pretend I never posted anything in this forum -
I'll start over and ask you pro's......

I have 2 WD5000KS-00MNB0 drives
One spins up but has the click of death. (click click click spin-down spin-up click click click). The other is a donor made the same week of the dead drive.
Since these WDs are "tough cases to solve" - should I even bother with trying to find a company that can recover the data?

Thanks for all the replies and helpful info!

Tough is not impossible.
There is so many little details that if missed, could cause a failure in recovery or possibly making more damages. I don't think you want that to happen.
I would suggest to look for a company, which you could be confident with and hope for the best.

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

WD5000KS-00MNB0

One of the easiest drives to work on......

Did you resolve the aligment problem ?

_________________
ZeBong
" что случилось в России - останется в России "
" Россия еще раз"

No, he is simply working for OnTrack and trying to promote them.

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

I found an easy way to make my drive stop clicking -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMhdEp3SM_w&


Seriously though,
Do the clicks signify the type of failure in a drive?

The clicks are usually caused by the head assembly hitting the stopper while the heads keep trying to find the SA in order to boot the drive. This could be because of a damaged PCB, bad heads, corrupt firmware or just good old media damage.

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Donor Inventory: 5,000+ Fully Cataloged HDDs & Growing

No, this is what I meant by the different clicks.

http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php

Mine sounds like a bad preamp - "200GB desktop drive with bad preamplifier chip (located on the headstack) clicks a few times, spins down."

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Back to the real subject - has anyone gotten a response/reply from HDRC.
All the emails I sent in March have finally made their way back to me in Non-Delivery Reports.......