This one really surprised me. Got a 5 platter 10 head 4Tb HDS724040ALE640 that came in totally seized after a good drop. Heads were stuck to platters, bearing totally seized. With enough force I managed to get the bearing to spin so I could safely remove the heads. However the spindle had an awful amount of wobble, way more than would have been safe to attempt spinning up.
So, begrudgingly after my quote was approved I decided it was time to buy the $350 donor and do the platter swap. To my shock and amazement, after a slight bit of clicking on the first power up the drive fully ID'd, backed up resources, and had full sector access. It's now imaging at 90Mb/s from all 10 original heads inside the donor HDA. I've read nearly 100Gb without a single bad sector yet.
How often does a case go that smoothly? They never do for me.
So, begrudgingly after my quote was approved I decided it was time to buy the $350 donor and do the platter swap. To my shock and amazement, after a slight bit of clicking on the first power up the drive fully ID'd, backed up resources, and had full sector access. It's now imaging at 90Mb/s from all 10 original heads inside the donor HDA. I've read nearly 100Gb without a single bad sector yet.
How often does a case go that smoothly? They never do for me.