Hello Everyone,

I wanted to run this by the Gurus and was hoping someone could offer some technical advice. We are not looking to outsource this job at this time, so please only offer advice if you are willing to share information and not simply looking for work for your organization. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated...

Problem Drive:

WESTERN DIGITAL WD2500 250GB

MDL: WD2500JS-75MHB0

DATE: 26 JUN 2005

DCM: DSBHCTJAH

PRODUCT OF THAILAND



Drive clicks three times and spins back down. Diagnosed as a failed head



(2) Attempted head swaps with the following donor drives



1st FAILED ATTEMPT – 3 CLICKS AND SPINS DOWN AFTER HEAD SWAP

DONOR DRIVE

WESTERN DIGITAL WD2500 250GB

MDL: WD2500JS-60NCB1

DATE: 06 MAY 2006

DCM: DSBHCTJAH

PRODUCT OF THAILAND



2nd FAILED ATTEMPT – 3 CLICKS AND SPINS DOWN AFTER HEAD SWAP

DONOR DRIVE

WESTERN DIGITAL WD2500 250GB

MDL: WD2500JS-75MHB0

DATE: 04 AUG 2005

DCM: HSCACTJAH

PRODUCT OF MALAYSIA



We have initially diagnosed the drive as a failed head and made two head swap attempts and have not been successful. There does not seem to be any platter damage and the original head did not have any visiual damage of any kind. We would like assistance on remote assistance on this drive if possible.

Please advise……

Regards,

Ruben

1st Drive should have been compatible.
2nd Drive probably not.

Are you sure it's a bad head?

Sorry,

first hard drive is probably not compatible due to firmware and head map. Was trying to due too many things at once. If you have ACE or SD you can look at the Head map and compare to be sure.

2nd drive can also have some incompatible issues. Try to get a better match on the DCM if you really thing it's the heads.

and which one is bad?

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www.datarecoveryne.com

Well, I'm not 100% certain. We do not have hardware diagnostic tools at this time (ACER, Salvation Data) to really be sure. A lab in the UK we spoke to recently had an opinion and their take was that the DCM and Firmware had to match for this particular drive. I was under the impression that if it was a head swap only the head DCM had to match and not even exactly. Just particular digits is what I thought..... The PCB looks OK physically (Not Burned Out). Is there any software methods of checking for head damage?

Thank you for your interest.....

Generally speaking not all letters of the DCM have to match, but you have to know which ones, and in addition if you do a search on the forum you will notice that even some seasoned data recovery specialists are debating exactly what has to much. Apparently on some models you have to be more specific then on others. You can find some guidelines for the DCM in this forum, but nothing is bullet proof. Only experience will eventually provide you with the best insights.


I am afraid not on your drive.

Thank you again for your professional opinions.... So, I have two donor drives - One with the exact DCM and One with the exact firmware (I have had no luck finding a donor drive with both matching DCM and Firmware- Needle in the Haystack) I know this a totally rookie question and problably a dumb one, but can I use both donor drives to recover the patient drive. I guess it would be a head swap and PCB swap..... Please be merciful on the responses please... Or is it that I will have to find a perfect DCM and Firmware donor match..

Regards....

Ok,

Match this:
WD2500JS-xxMHxx
DCM: xxBHCTJAH


this is all the help I can give!

Also be aware that If you have not performed any Head change on WD, your chances for success are slim.

P.S. Also keep in mind that your problem could be something different and without the experience and expensive tools you will not be able to troubleshoot the faulty drive properly.

No, U will have to be able to deal with alignment...

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Alignment - What I have read when alignment is talked about is when a head swap is performed the heads need to be aligned before the head is placed back on the platter. Can you explain that to me in more detail?

I feel sorry for your customer.

This isn't the response you are looking for but you have already exceeded your capabilities on this drive and you need to outsource this to a professional with the right tools and equipment before you ruin the slim chances of recovering this drive. If you haven't got the right diagnostic tools, I bet you haven't got the right cleanroom facilities to carry out this level of work.

Do yourself a favour now and stop where you are.

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Data Recovery Ireland

I was hoping not to get any sarcastic remarks and just professional advice, but I knew someone would poke their funny head in. This drive is my personal drive and does not have any critical information on it and it was backed up to top it off. I'm taking steps to become a proficient data recovery specialist, like everyone here in the forums did at one point in there profession. I'm new to the forum and was hoping to gain valuable information to help with this goal of mine. I know nothing beats expierence in any profession, but you have to start working in order to gain it right.....

Kind Regards.

Hello CK,

I did invest in a Labconoco vertical clean bench right off the start. I would never open a drive without it.

Regards,

Hi,

There's many info available on the forum. But if u want to become a pro, u cannot skip your own lessons.
The info u are asking for is not even known by Ontrack as far as I see, so do u expect to spread it over an open forum?
U've got a long way of learning and figuring out things yourself. All the basics are available here and in some manuals of some tools.
Those are the basics. All the rest we found out ourselves, and - sorry to say - it is not even for sale.
I hope U understand.

regards,
pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

I wouldn't classify my post as sarcastic, I'm just trying to be realistic with you. At no point in your original post did you mention that the HDD was your personal drive. There have been too many cowboys around here looking for advice like this where they are butchering customer drives, ruining any possibility of recovery their valuable data.

Swapping heads on this drive is probably the most difficult task that a DR Pro carries out. You need tons of experience with these drives before carrying out a successful headswap.

Proper diagnosis is key to DR. Matching parts is just as important.

Have you tried removing heads on a good WD drive and putting them back in? I suggest you do this so that you can get your technique right. If the drive clicks, your technique is wrong. Once you've mastered this, you can then move onto the real thing.

If you're not comfortable with swapping heads, you need to start on easier drives like Toshibas, Hitachis, Samsung, etc to get your practice in.

I suggest you invest in a tool like PC3000 which will help you diagnose a fault correctly before you start stripping a drive down.

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Data Recovery Ireland

That's like going to the dentist with a toothache and dentist pulls out a sledge hammer...I'm not sure if this will fix your toothache but it might hurt.

_________________
Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

WILL

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

Thank you CK for the heads up! I was not replying to your post.... I was replying to the "I feel sorry for your customer remark". How is that helpful....I've noticed from several posts on the forums, that there are members cutting people down all the time and they are not here to be helpful and to exchange information, but to hunt down some business for themselves. I understand people need to make a living, but there are plenty of bad hard drives to go around. I'm in the learning stages and I want to make sure I make the best choices possible and recieve sound advice from professionals that are willing to share information. I do have a great clean bench and had it certified to make sure it was truly doing its job.

Thank you again

What I'm trying to prevent right from the get go is making huge mistakes in different aspects of the data recovery field. I noticed some members initially making a large investment in Salvation Data equipment and later regretting the purchase due to poorly written programming code and almost non-existent support. I will be in the market for data recovery hardware and I don't want to make a mistake like that, if I can prevent it. Research is priceless in this field and is a no brainer. Unless you have money to burn....