Performing HDD Transplant

GarethDW

GarethDW

GarethDW

Soldato
Joined
22 Jun 2006
Posts
2,971
Location
Swindon
Has anyone ever transplanted the platters from a borked drive into a working drive? I've got a Samsung sata 80GB drive that I can hear spin up/down but it's not seen in the BIOS at all.

Putting a different drive in works straight away so my mobo & cables aren't to blame.

The auction place has the same model going cheap so I'm wondering if I can use one as a donor so I can get my data off the dead drive.

Any thoughts or advice?
 
Could be a borked onboard controller on the faulty drive?.

Would be worth trying swapping over that from a donor drive first, rather than going down the route of swapping platters.

I have no idea what swapping platters on a drive involves but it sounds like a complete nightmare to attempt!!!
 
If the controller is the problem, swap that. Otherwise don't bother. You need a clean room to swap the platters and they are a pain in the ass to remove, as the arm needs to come off etc.
 
Very complicated job to do right, I'm afraid the drive is nothing more than a paperweight now.

The slightest bit of dust will kill the platters, and were talking particles measured in nm here.
 
sometimes its not even possible to do (without extreme difficulty) as the arm wont retract all the way & there is often 2 each side virtually touching the disc, then you have to undo the screw in the middle to lift the disc up and off.
If the drive has more than one head its even harder and just touching the platter with the head is enough to damage it, however saying that you might not mind spending £50+ for the chance, just make sure its the same model.
 
Last edited:
slowrunner said:
Very complicated job to do right, I'm afraid the drive is nothing more than a paperweight now.

The slightest bit of dust will kill the platters, and were talking particles measured in nm here.
Click to expand...
Yeah, realise now that moving the platters ain't gonna happen. Gonna have a go at the controller, as ColdFusion suggested. Not got much to lose, as fortunately the donor drive is dead cheap these days as it's only an 80GB one that I need.

sosrandom said:
sometimes its not even possible to do (without extreme difficulty) as the arm wont retract all the way & there is often 2 each side virtually touching the disc, then you have to undo the screw in the middle to lift the disc up and off.
If the drive has more than one head its even harder and just touching the platter with the head is enough to damage it, however saying that you might not mind spending £50+ for the chance, just make sure its the same model.
Click to expand...
I've found a replacement drive on the bay for £16 +p&p which makes it worth the risk. Not sure I'd bother if it was gonna cost me a couple of ponies, but I've lost £16 down the back of the sofa in the past ;)
 
Ive taken countless hard drives apart to get the magnets out of them, and ive never managed to take one apart without damaging it in some way.
 
Your only chance at doing it yourself would probably be a controller board transplant. You need to match the controller board exactly though, down the the firmware on the controller and the manufacture date.
 
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