Recovering the data from the hard drive, which has the stuck spindle

Artem Makarov aka Robin
26.07.2009
9629 views

Today I would like to describe the data recovery process on a hard drive with a jammed motor. The frequency with which such hard drive failures occur is increasing at present time.

The client brought HDD Seagate 7200.11 for data recovery. The motor of HDD was stuck hopelessly. To recover data on such a drive it is essential to fix the pack of platters to the airproof block with a well-functioning motor with the help of special appliances. After being fixed the pack of platters it needs to be centered.

The wedged drive shaft on the HDD SeagateThe wedged drive shaft on the HDD Seagate

Having done all that I found out that the original heads which after the trigging remained on the outer surface had been out of working order. To recover the files the client needed the donor pack of heads was required.

The problem of compatibility of sensing heads on the Seagate 7200.11 is rather a serious one. From time to time in the closed chat forums explanation is asked how to choose heads for replacement. There even was one Chinese who on pigeon English persuasively asked me for help. And the replacement of heads on Seagate 7200.11 is not an easy task indeed. Certainly, I cannot reveal all the secrets but I can give you a hint by saying that in spite of the fact that the number of heads and the producer of HDD should coincide, one has to pay attention to the fact that the preamp producer should be the same also; and looking into a certain place in the ROM of the donor drive to make sure it coincides with the ROM of the malfunctioning hard drive is not the least important thing to do. If necessary the significant part of the donor ROM has to be copied into the recipient's ROM. There is a couple of secrets more.

The opened HDD Seagate ST3750330ASThe opened HDD Seagate ST3750330AS

It took time to find the donor drive required. After the disk had been found I managed to get access to the operating space of the hard drive by replacing the heads. To sum up, I would like to add that the trigged hard drives in general, and the Seagate ES.2 and 7200.11 at data recovery in particular is a hard task for the data recovery specialist.

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