HDD Heads Damaged, Can i Replace the Arm Unit? (Pic attached)

[papanojustin]

Last night I grabbed my HDD off the shelf, plugged it in and got some beeping sounds. It's the drive with my music collection, photos, home movies, "personal movies", writing, etc. Basically everything back to 2007.

I opened up the case, following some great videos on youtube, and found the following:

I'm not an expert, but the heads should NOT look like that /s

It must have been dropped. it had been moved and my wife was all "gee, do you think it was dropped?" which makes me think she dropped it. Not casting blame, just describing what I think may have happened to it. To the untrained eye, this looks fixable by replacing the arm/head/internals. Either I can do it, or I can send it off.

Has anybody seen this kind of spaghetti-looking read-head? it just looks like a mess. I'm also not sure what brand the HDD is. It is a 500GB 7200RPM drive, but it has no label. Either I peeled it off (not likely) or it was originally in a laptop and then swapped out for an SSD and converted into a non-bootable storage device.

Thanks!
J

 

[Ubrales]

The HDD is totally ruined!

HDDs are very high precision devices and are not intended to be user serviced. Servicing can be done only in a "Clean Room" under strict standards.

It is possible to recover the data on it but it is very expensive (over $1,000) to do so. There are data recovery companies that do that type of work.

 

[USAFRet]

I opened up the case, following some great videos on youtube, and found the following:

Your image does not appear. It is stuck inside your OneDrive account.
Please, please repost.

But if it is what I think it is....

 

[papanojustin]

I opened up the case, following some great videos on youtube, and found the following:

Your image does not appear. It is stuck inside your OneDrive account.
Please, please repost.

But if it is what I think it is....

I copied a file to a public folder and here it is

here's a direct link
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=D0A5B1A51638F0A4!650862&authkey=!ABgpob2coijjlEE&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg

or

https://ah5l6q-dm2306.files.1drv.com/y3pC0kd4f87ZaJvgXPsF_jaawZxQQUXvPt31PFZAz3IWrQOUAhC1BaZToHpmrZPqvtOEKH-r0yZtAeh5V2fW7OPpSre6JGfReHNxN1v9nWqu233uf78CWmfKBwP2yASKubmYAou8tjW_caaaOqxrBfxg0sXz69vE19geDWhFVXnazk/WP_20160520_08_10_17_Pro.jpg?psid=1

 

[papanojustin]

The HDD is totally ruined!

HDDs are very high precision devices and are not intended to be user serviced. Servicing can be done only in a "Clean Room" under strict standards.

It is possible to recover the data on it but it is very expensive (over $1,000) to do so. There are data recovery companies that do that type of work.

I know all that. i'm asking if that kind of "Surgery" is even possible on an HDD

 

[USAFRet]

For ease of others, here:

That drive is hosed.

Just 'dropping it' would not have mangled the arms that much.
Dropped while running maybe.
In which case the heads contacted the rotating platters and mangled the arms.
Almost certainly resulting in damage to the platter surface.

However, an arm replacement would have been done in a clean room or clean box.
Now that it is open...it is toast.

Finally....10 years worth of family data and no backup?

 

[USAFRet]

I know all that. i'm asking if that kind of "Surgery" is even possible on an HDD

For a first timer on your kitchen table?
No.

 

[DSzymborski]

It's possible that a data recovery firm can recover your data still, but at this point, you're going to be paying a four-digit sum for something that has a good chance at failing. And the more you tinker with it now, the less likely anything will be recovered.

It's best to just chuck the hard drive in the trash, purchase a new one, and restore your files from one of your backup sources.

 

[Ubrales]

The HDD is totally ruined!

HDDs are very high precision devices and are not intended to be user serviced. Servicing can be done only in a "Clean Room" under strict standards.

It is possible to recover the data on it but it is very expensive (over $1,000) to do so. There are data recovery companies that do that type of work.

I know all that. i'm asking if that kind of "Surgery" is even possible on an HDD

Impossible in a user's environment. In the factory, maybe depending on the damage.

 

[papanojustin]

That drive is hosed.

Just 'dropping it' would not have mangled the arms that much.
Dropped while running maybe.
In which case the heads contacted the rotating platters and mangled the arms.
Almost certainly resulting in damage to the platter surface.

However, an arm replacement would have been done in a clean room or clean box.
Now that it is open...it is toast.

Finally....10 years worth of family data and no backup?[/quotemsg]

Yeah, I have no idea how it got like that. I have a backup, but not recent as it's an external drive and I prioritize my DAW disks for regular backup. plus this disk is just a catch-all for stuff so i'm sure not all of it is backed up.

 

[Mr_Limo]

This is not a 'do it yourself' fix, unfortunately. I do know that DriveSavers will evaluate it for you for free (google 'em), and provide you a quote (they got my data back). But opening a hard drive and exposing the platters is a wrong move...