rebuilding my hard drive

[tzetsin]

So tonight my cousin comes over with his hard drive in hand, he's got some pictures of a car show i wanted (an he doesnt have a flash drive of all things...)

I've got a BlackX external hard drive mounting unit (you can swap out drives on the fly) so i tell him to find the power cord for it ( it was just on the floor, i keep i unplugged so i dont trip on the cord an drop a drive on the floor) and plug it in, then we'd swap in his drive...

So he grabs a laptop cord an says "is this it?" i say, "no, thats a laptop cord." as he proceeds to insert the cord into the unit saying "oh, it fits anyway"...

my heart stops for a second, i grab it an pull it out, sure enough the power button was in the on position and my almost full 1tb external hard drive is smoking....

so... my question is, has anyone on this forum had any success swapping platters out of hard drives? if so, any "before you do..." advice? since the data is invalueble to me (my many many many pictures...) and the drive i'm going to butcher to try an get it back is a cool 100 bucks, i want to get it right the first time.

[Perineum]

Beat your cousin. Severely.




Then try a PCB swap. Buy another drive of the same size, model, part number, etc. Pull off it's PCB and mount it on your dead drive. It may spin up and allow you to get the data off. Kinda depends on how far the (either excessive or wrong polarity) voltage made it along the PCB.

Sounds like you're going to have to buy another of the same HD to swap the platters out anyway so might as well try the PCB swap first. Opening the harddrive will usually make the data start going bad so try other avenues first.

Also, once you are done getting all your data (if it works) swap the PCB's back. As long as if doesn't look obvious you removed it (you didn't strip all the screws, etc) you still may get warranty. I've had 2 drives die from an bad powersupply and the PCBs were toast. Seagate covered them under warranty anyway.

[gingerbee]

+1 to perineum plan of attack what else you gonna do pay for data recovery OMG pricey and get to beat that boy that's listen that's what ears are for good luck

[odis172]

Darwin at work, though unfortunatly he had your data in his hand when it happened. Platter swaps (especially multi platters) will not be successfull without experiance and the right tools. The pcb swap may work for you, but again chances are slim. Finding a compatible pcb will be tough, and even then it will be programmed with the idiosyncrasies of the other drive; so it may work, most likely not.
If your serious about getting your data back, dont tamper with it, take it to the data recovery center.

[Perineum]

What brand/make/model/partnumber/pcb #/etc is on the drive?

[tzetsin]

ok ordered another hitatchi deskstar 1tb, should be here tomorrow or monday. Wish me luck guys, i'll let you know what happens.

[Perineum]

I don't have any of those drives so I definately cannot help you. You might still want to put up your HD info here. Someone might be willing to trade your new uncompatible drive with their used compatible drive

[tzetsin]

Originally Posted by Perineum

What brand/make/model/partnumber/pcb #/etc is on the drive?

its an hitatchi deskstar 1tb, pcb # 110 0a29636 01

[tzetsin]

I tried plugging it into my pc direct via sata, but it caused a short an shut down the pc.... wont be doing that again on my retardedly expensive computer... fortunatly it didnt wreck anything

[tzetsin]

Originally Posted by Perineum

I don't have any of those drives so I definately cannot help you. You might still want to put up your HD info here. Someone might be willing to trade your new uncompatible drive with their used compatible drive

unless they made some revisions, it should be compatable. Fortunatly this drive is still available for sale.