Can i take the plates from one HDD and put into another HDD

[AJ Crouch]

I have a laptop HDD that has crapped out on me. I know the inner workings of HDD's but not a whole bunch. Its a clicking sound so might be the Cache arm. Can i remove the plates from the bad HDD and put them into a HDD i know works? I know the warranty will be void so what. Just want to know if i can. I have information off the HDD.

 

[USAFRet]

I have a laptop HDD that has crapped out on me. I know the inner workings of HDD's but not a whole bunch. Its a clicking sound so might be the Cache arm. Can i remove the plates from the bad HDD and put them into a HDD i know works? I know the warranty will be void so what. Just want to know if i can. I have information off the HDD.

By doing that you will have two dead drives, not just one. You need a clean room, or at least a clean bench.

See the 4th image from this article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/642-data-recovery-hard-drive-failure.html

 

[rgd1101]

sure you can, it your money, if you want to waste to a good hdd and make the bad one unrecoverable.

 

[fzabkar]

The only reason you would want to transfer the platters to another drive is if the spindle motor were seized or damaged.

In any case, aside from a cleanroom, you would need a special tool to maintain the alignment of all platters with respect to each other.

Here is a highly recommended supplier of HDD tools:

http://hddsurgery.com/tools/categories/2
http://hddsurgery.com/tools/categories/1

The web site has numerous video guides.

Here are more suppliers:
http://www.salvationdata.com/HD-Platter-exchanger/index.html
http://www.salvationdata.com/data-recovery-equipment/hd-hpe-pro.htm