External HD failure

**Phyrelight** · 10-30-13, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by WileECyte

That's not true Phyre... It's possible to pull the platters, swap out the heads with an identical drive, and put it all back together. There's a lot of FUD out there about hard drives put out there by both the manufacturers and the recovery companies.

That being said, it's definitely not for the lighthearted. If you're not careful how you remove the heads... you can scratch the platters and there goes your data.

Yea I scratched more than a few just getting the magnets off

Not to mention to pull off placing the platters into a new enclosure you would need an identical HD with identical firmware and a clean room, the proper tools and torque settings......ummm yea

**Kanati** · 10-30-13, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by Phyrelight

That only holds true if its the header that is out and not the spinners or the laser.

Wait... what? Are you from the future? Are you an alternate dimensional being? In this universe in this year, hard drives don't use lasers.

**WileECyte** · 10-30-13, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Phyrelight

Yea I scratched more than a few just getting the magnets off

Not to mention to pull off placing the platters into a new enclosure you would need an identical HD with identical firmware and a clean room, the proper tools and torque settings......ummm yea

The clean room thing is part of the FUD. If you planned on using the drive long-term, sure. But you're just trying to recover data so it won't matter much. The rest is true... the firmware isn't necessarily that big of a deal, but you need the same model with the same revision of the logic board. You can also transfer the logic board from the failed drive if it's a motor/head issue.

**Phyrelight** · 10-30-13, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Kanati8869

Wait... what? Are you from the future? Are you an alternate dimensional being? In this universe in this year, hard drives don't use lasers.

Hmm there is an optic (circle) like device on the end of the arms that go back and forth on the platter, I thought they were optical lasers. After reading I guess they are just guides and the magnets on either side use to write or clear bits.....see I have a masters and I can still learn something new. Thanks for clarifying.

**Gunny** · 10-30-13, 12:10 PM

Thanks for all the info guys, I am waiting on my friend to decide if he wants to try a data recovery company or if he has accepted it as a loss. If it is a loss then I will use it as a learning experience and try my hand at opening it and see what I can do with it.

He has most of the pictures on another computer but there are a few he doesn't have that are on this drive.

i don't have the drive in front of me, but it is a Iomega external drive similar to this one.
Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive 1TB