Performing HDD Transplant

[GarethDW]

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?

 

[GarethDW]

thanks - time to google exactly what's involved.

cheers guys

 

[GarethDW]

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.

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.

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.

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