Discussion Forums > Technology
Hard Drive Transplant
isukianime:
--- Quote from: kureshii on September 30, 2009, 06:35:56 AM ---What I've read before is, if the 2 drives are of the exact same model and make (or if you have other reason to believe this procedure is feasible), you can transfer the disk platters from the failed drive to the working drive. If all goes well, the new drive will read the old platters, and you can recover your data off the drive (assuming the platters are intact).
Mind you, while it's simple enough in concept to be described in one sentence, in reality it involves finding a dust-free environment, VERY careful disassembly of said drive and handling of platters (get one fingerprint or significant speck of dirt on those platters, it's game over unless you're lucky). In other words, not something you want to try if it's your first time.
You definitely want to do lots of reading up, and practise on an old/cheap drive or something. You will likely also need specialised tools; platters are not easy to remove without contamination (try disassembling an old drive).
Some details can be found here.
--- End quote ---
I've done that before and destroyed 2 drives. Everything went smoothly until I connected the power cables at which point misaligned drive heads scraped the platters.
Lucerin Red:
--- Quote from: Lucerin Red on October 14, 2009, 02:50:31 AM ---If you just fried the logic board, that's all you have to replace, I actually am going through the same thing right now. I bought a shitty power adaptor from china and it fried the logic board, smoke and everything. But replacing the logic board is cake. it just simply unscrews and lifts off. nothing to plug in even. However, the difficult part is finding a matching logic board. You have to find not only the same Make and Model, but the same firmware and P/N. Unfortunately for me there are plenty of 3.03 firmware, but what I need is 3.06. And the ass Pirates out there jack up the price now that the model is discontinued. They want $150+ for a 250 GB drive. ass fuckers.
--- End quote ---
Just posting to say I can confirm what I stated is accurate, as I finally got a replacement drive for $40, swapped the cards, and it works perfectly.
Bonus, the drive I got to replace it is still in warranty, so hello 2-for-1.
Slykester:
What you're describing is possible, I've done it personally as well as seen it done by colleagues. You have nothing to lose at this point, and the only thing you have to worry about is if the motor is damaged. You can probably see what you need to do if that's the case.
Lupin:
--- Quote from: Lucerin Red on October 31, 2009, 01:14:51 AM ---Bonus, the drive I got to replace it is still in warranty, so hello 2-for-1.
--- End quote ---
Won't they notice that you replaced the board (voiding the warranty)?
Slykester:
Only if you're careless, or if they were anticipating that this could occur (and consequently made it impossible to switch the board). Usually the board is connected such that it *will* be replaceable, for things like refurbs. I guess you gotta ask yourself, how important is that data?
Just be extremely careful, and try to salvage any warranty labels. ;) It's not that I necessarily think 2-for-1 is fair, but I agree it can be really hard to replace some stuff, especially if you don't have the originals to reproduce it.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version