Hi all,
Up until now I had assumed that all multi platter drives had spacer rings between the platters, but after reading up on the tools for platter transfer, this seems to be not the case. For example, Salvation Data have a tool for multi platter drives and another tool for multi platter drives with spacers. Is this right?

Is the WD Caviar wd1600jb ide built with or without spacers?
TIA

This model doesn't have spacers

_________________
SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

Hi, thanks for the reply.
What do they do in this type of drive to space the platters apart? A ring that's part of one of the platters?

The ring is a separate piece.

_________________
Data Recovery Ireland

I think he's talking about two different things....

Multiplatter drives do have spacing rings that go on the spindle between platters to keep them separated. The "spacers" that you see people around here talking about are metal or plastic fins that are attached to the outer edge of the drive chassis and protrude from the outside in between the platters, thus making removal with conventional cylindrical platter removal tools impossible. These mainly occur in newer drives such as Seagate 7200.10+, etc. They don't play any part in keeping the platters spaced apart so perhaps calling them spacers is a misnomer.

_________________
You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Sorry for the confusion, I'm meaning only those rings that space the platters apart.
I take it then that all multi platter drives have separate rings that space the platters apart?

Correct.

Best option is to get an old drive and strip it apart and you'll see exactly how it works.

_________________
Data Recovery Ireland

ok, I think I have the picture now. When SD say their new tool allows for use on hdd's with spacers, their not talking about the spacers that hold the platters apart, but fins which sit between the platters?
I'm guessing that these fins are for air control to get more consistent and predictable fly height of the heads?



Yeah I've had a few apart over the years and have noted that all multi platter drives I'd looked at had spacer rings and some with extra fins running around the periphery of the platters.
Some fin arrangements are such that it would seem impossible to do a platter swap without loosing alignment.

Read this
http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

_________________
SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.