can anyone tell me How to Swap Hard Disk Drive Platters?

Answer 1

This is an article regarding swapping hard drive platters. This is not a procedure for the technically inept or faint hearted. The following carries no guarantees. The following defiantly voids and nullifies any existing warranty.
Steps

1. You have tried everything else, your data is not extremely important, and/or your cash flow restricts the use of a professional service.
2. Purchase a new HDD with the same model number and firmware version.
3. Test the new HDD. Make sure you can read and write data to and from it.
4. Set up a clean work environment. You can not make a super clean environment at home but use some common sense, and do the best you can. Keep air flow to a minimum.
5. Assemble and layout your tools.
6. Dawn powder free latex gloves.
7. Ground your self! If you don't know what is, or how to do it, ask google.
8. Remove the cover of you dead drive. If the cover doesn’t just lift off, look for more screws! There are screws under labels.
9. Once the cover is off inspect the platters. If they are scratched, scorched, warped, or other wise damaged, stop you are done!
10. Set the cover back on and remove the cover from your donor HDD.
11. Remove the platters from the donor HDD. This is you chance to learn how they are assembled, if you slip and damage parts you can get a new donor.
12. Once you have the platters removed from the donor drive, remove the platters from your dead HDD.
13. Reassemble the donor drive with dead HDD’s platters inside.
14. Mount the donor drive.
15. Quickly copy your data. You might only get one or two chances to read from the HDD. It might make some horrible noises.
16. Once you have copied the data, unmount the HDD and discard it. Continued use of the HDD is ill advised.


Tips

* To remove the platters you might have to remove the head assembly.
* Use the right tools!!!
* This procedure is not for logically erased data. This procedure is for physically inoperable drives with intact data.
* When swapping the platters be very careful with the head! Make sure the head is parked before you attempt to remove the platters.
* Do your homework. Look at photos of the internals of a hard disk drive BEFORE you open one up.
* HDD = hard disk drive


Warnings

* This WILL void any existing warranty.

Answer 2

Wow, thats a big job my friend. Heres what I found on the net.

If you want something else you can try yourself, there's always the "percussive realignment." WARNING: this can ruin the drive, possibly even physically destroying chunks of the platters so that even professionals cannot recover that data!! I don't recommend this! I've only used it as a last shot to try to get the drive to work temporarily, and only if the data on the drive isn't that important. That being said, power the drive up, holding it in one hand, and in the other, have a rubber mallet, medium sized screwdriver, etc. Let it click a couple of times to get the rhythm down, then just as it clicks, give it a tap (not a whack, but not too soft, either.) This could unstick a stuck head - if that's your problem. Then copy the data off quick before it does it again.

Another option somewhere between "smack it" and changing out the platters would be swapping the controller card - the circuit board that is built right onto the drive. This will likely only work if you can get the exact same drive to use as a donor, and may not be feasible with many brands and models of drive. If that's the problem, and you can get your data and swap controllers back with no damage to the donor drive, you can then (probably) return the donor. No net cost! Then again, I guess you'd probably need a new drive anyway - might as well keep it.

Hope something works for ya, good luck!

Answer 3

I wouldn't recommend you doing this by yourself, unless you have access to a clean room and know exactly what your doing. Hard drives are fragile, and precautions must be taken if you want to keep the data on the discs. If you absolutely must have this done, send it to professionals.

Answer 4

yes
in a clean room
with matching ide controllers
that have been calibrated to the disks ( each one is calibrated for azimuth and alignment and defects )

otherwise good luck