Hard Drive Head Replacement Tools for 50 Cents 

Thanks man! I was able to exchange the head from a donor to a patient using this technique. It worked for me after practicing with a couple of old HDDs first. Thanks for putting knowledge out there!

Great explanation of this problem. Unfortunately, all of the important visuals were covered by your hand. The whole purpose of the video as opposed to an audio class, is that you can see something of value. In this video, not so much. Thanks anyway.

I had a Hitachi Death Star 500 GB disk, with 8 heads, I made a similar tool using coffee stiring straws that I cut up and smashed carefully. Fortunately, the Hitachi disk has an off platter park zone, no need to drag the heads back to an inner park zone. I accidentlaly put my sticky fingers on the top platter and had to use Windex glass cleaner to wipe off the finger prints. I was able to recover about 85% of my data, the other 15% was wiped off by the glass cleaner.

Clean rooms are just a bunch of marketing hype. They are only needed if your building a drive, or re certifying a drive.

If you need to see beyond his hands...then you cannot grasp the concept. Therefore you probably shouldn't be working on your own hard drive. Its basic common sense. A piece of foil is preventing the heads from touching each other until replacement platter is in place. Anyhow. Thanks Scott.

HOW MUCH THICKNESS SHOULD BE THE FOAM? I HAVE A 3TB SEAGATE 3PLATTER 6HEADS 7200.14

when ordering donor drives they cost more because you order a specific model # specifc firmware, etc head type... ect.. they will not cost the same as a regular replacement drive. they have to match EVERYTHING if not your chance of recovery goes down the drain.

Can you rescue my clicking hard drive? I want to try it, but I'm worried I might foul it up, seems like you really know what you're doing. It's 80gb IDE.

cut the strips off both sides of a band aid gets same results for a tool

Hi. I was trying to fix my hard Drive tonight, and one of the heads came off (it's a little black thing with a "Y" shaped pattern on it.). How could I possibly fix this? Can I glue it, or should I solder it on? Any help would be appreciated!

Quick question. If my hard drive already has the parking spacer in place (1TB Hitachi, multi-platter) do I still to utilize a tool such as this, or could I make sure the heads are parked in the spacer and remove the heads and spacer as one?

Hi! There is no problem with some code in the head that make imposible read information in other disk? I thinking about buying a new disk with, same model, and do they replacement but reading I find this questions, can You help me please?

Outstanding video Scott. Thanks very much for taking the time to share it on RU-vid.

You don't need a clean room for a head swap if all your going to do is get the data off that drive. I would never put a drive that I've opened in the first place. Do the head swap, pull the data, toss the drive in the trash.

Where can i buy heads or the whole reader for HDD: Hitachi 1TB 7200 RPM S-ATA cuz heads are broken ??

So the big question.. DOES IT WORK NOW?

This is great but where do I get a clean room from?

as a a repair man this was great to know thanks man

My hard drive makes this strange spinning noise when i boot up my pc (sounds like a DVD starting to spin) then it clicks 2-3 times and works fine.I havent had any slowdowns or freezes.Should i be concerned?

c'est tres explicite et tres utile pour les intermèdieres dans le nivaux de connaissance tank you.... a tous died.

Anyone repair Hard Drives cheap? I just want to recover some video I recorded off of TV (it's not really worth spending much more than $100 to $150).

Outstanding video Scott. Thanks for taking the time to share it on RU-vid.

@soldersucker I believe this statement fully. I think the standards other resources set are overly retentive. Its even more important just to simply be careful and do the procedure in ordinance then calibrated correctly. I haven't even done one!

Is the purpose of the foil tool to keep the heads from touching each other, or to keep the heads from touching the platter, or both? Thank you again! :)

have a crash a Hitachi Deskstar 500 GB. It was no more able to get access to the datas. Only hear a clicking sound, as if a motor wants start again and again. The shop I bought it only told me I must order a professoinal company, it would cost less 800 EUR for recovery. Now I am here at YT to check whats possible on my own. QUESTION: These service companies use a "clean room technology". I see @ YT many videos people open the HD without that. Is there any risk without having such a clean room?

Is this needed for stiction?? I have a WD with stuck heads. The other vids I have watched show rotating the drive and gently pulling back on the arm.

I haved mixed success thus far using this method, on a trial run I successfully removed a head unit, put it back and could still read the drive. On the real drive (not working) I tried swapping the head unit with that from a working donor drive but disaster struck when the head s banged together, obviously when put together it did not work, I am going to try again. I would like to know that if this again fails would a datarecovery company be able to extract my data when it is in this state.

so you are telling me that that platter is not already useless as i don't really see an air-tight cover on top of it.... hmmm.... interesting...

what if my disc has a scratch and the head point is in between the wheel and the scratch?, do you you think I can repair it by changing the head? I already have another HHD of the same model, is a Maxtor diamondmax, please help, any suggestions?

yes you must buy another one because if you try to open your harddrive you can broke the thin disc and then your harddrive will destroyed...

I'm looking for replacement parts for a Western Digital MDL# WD5000C032. Can I purchase parts directly through WD?

Maybe so, but as long as there's no skin flakes on the platters you'll probably be fine. Don't lean your head over the platters.

Before and after you replae the heads, are the heads just a little above the platter or do the heads actually touch the platter? Thank you! I just found a head replacement tool that sells for 500 euros! That is beyond outrageous. It's just a little aluminum thing. But a strip of a pill container and a bit of foam, that I could manage!

I have a question. Is this process good for a 880Gb 2.5 drive? I am assuming the 2.5 drive has multiple disk on it. My drive was making a faint beep sound, then i drop it and now it make a click sound every 2 or 3 seconds

Hello, Can you please tell me what's the need to make a tool and then to remove it without using it? Also is it dangerous if dusk get on the plate and noit wearing any gloves?

Great! Even though it is challenging, I was encourged by this instruction!

I would like you to do a head swap on my WD 150g Raptor for absolutely free. How does that sound?

Just wonder why you did not shoot the video from the other side, so that your hands would not be blocking the view?

my 1.5tb segate stop working i think i have to do this but sure i have to buy another 1.5 TB HDD?

@Punjabiamrat lol no the disk gets "dust" and other particals on it which makes it unreadabe and it crashes

hi! i've got a question: you used a small piece of overhead projector plastic/tranparency to seperate the top head. why is that so? why did you not use the same tool? thx!

What does reinstall system software mean ! Does it mean the chip board is dead or the head isn't reading the disc ?

no real idea. They are usually expensive to make, so they are usually owned by companies.

you took the time to record this, you'd think that you would make sure your hands weren't in the way...

Hello there, I have some questions. I have a hard drive and I need to swap heads. (1) where I can find hard drive parts to match my disk drive model? (2) do I need a Clean room? Thanks

Hard Drive Head Replacement Tools for 50 Cents

Hi there, GREAT video! I was just wondering, my hard drive seems to have gotten a bit louder after popping it in to a USB encasing after a few hours of use. Am i just crazy or does this mean its failing? The sound is sort of a Krr-kr-kr-kr-kr-kr very quick little krs. Help!

euuhm no

Excelent Video, you posted that video with 4 and 8 heads?, I have one Wd800BB, I need change heads, thanks

Hi, I'm in the process of changing the head of my disk, I'd like to know, I had the click of death problem and when I opened it I saw a scratch along the inner circle of the top platter, it seems that the arm that was clicking has done that scratch, should I continue the head switch or the disk is pretty done? Thanks

Where can I get a hard drive pcb replaced or repaired, here in Atlanta? Thanks.

I opened my seagate and the heads were twisted beyond use. Where do I buy replacement hard drive heads?

Hi, i've a question. first: sorry for my english. I bought lot of HDD and tryed to remove the head and mount it again. First i had the problems that the head crashed together, then i saw your video and found a way to expand the 4 heads of my seagate 2,5 hdd. Now i can change the heads without any damage (i reckon). But it didn't work. always the same problem (clicking). If i have the same HDD (same partno, FW, modell no, its a st9500420as) i thought i can change the electronic, the heads isn't it? I had an hdd head crash and before i try to repair my hdd i will try to make a complete and working hdd change. do you have any idea? happy new year to all!

Smartest thing I have seen today...

What about multi-platter hard drives? Would this technique work as well?

Very useful but, could'nt see the important bits.

When is the only time I will need to replace the Head? when it clicks? not powering? etc?

very good one thanks a lot

Without a clean room this procedure is useless

What do you do if a head is snapped out of a spindle ?how do you get it back?

Where can you buy a replacement head or would you just use the same one? anyone?

erm, he says he did it in a clean room...

As long as your careful, its fine to open it.

GOOD WORK IT WILL HELP

I suggest you watch this guys other videos. ;)

Do you put the head over the platter or beside it?

Thank you from South Africa

where can i find online replacement parts? thank you in advance..

I did yesterday and I failed. :(

@SuperFlyFlippingA thank you for the wise advice!

@SuperFlyFlippingA By the way, sorry my dad must have used my account to post those messages!

I want to see how you manage it with 3 tools! No way!

Thanks

Would this method also work with a 2.5 inch notebook hard drive? Thank you :)

mine hdd opening doesn't

Gloves might be a good idea :)

pretty cool

Is it OK if the tool touches the platters?

thanks for info, good job, full of ideas

nice trick

Great video, Many Thanks!

wow

I like it.

Sponsored by sudafed. That's the stuff they make meth out of isn't it?

I have a WD20ears 00S8B1 and read this after several searches. I considered a platter swap but found this specific info. The drive spins up, and and the heads start clicking with a constant or intermittent sound while unsuccessfully trying to locate firmware zone: , , , . Usually this is a sign of damaged or crashed heads and it means the drive needs to be opened in a class 100 clean room environment in order to replace head stack assembly. I like this video!

First of all: thanks a very big lot for video's like these. They're very useful. One question though: what is the function of the piece of foam inbetween the bent plastic strip? I tried without on a dummy/practice hard-drive, and it seems the plastic is stiff enough to keep the heads apart on its own...

@SuperFlyFlippingA , Excelent Video, you posted that video with 4 and 8 platters?, I have one Wd800BB, I need change heads, thanks