"WDsux" wrote in message
...

Got a dead 7200 Western Digital drive (9 months old) I want to
get repaired. Just physically repaired. I will do the data
recovery.


Easy. Buy 2 identical drives. Buy a medium sized fishtank (usually 40-60
dollars), 1 set of heavy-duty black neoprene gloves, 1 sheet of Plexiglas
and nonmagnetic screwdrivers (nonmetallic if possible), Damprid sillica gel
packs (the one that changes color), silicone caulking (has to be 100%
silicone) black electrical tape or ducttape,handi wipes (the green or blue
cotton cloth), sticky rat trap. a licensed copy of nortons ghost.

Lay the fishtank on the side and measure the opening, with the measurements
cut a section of Plexiglas that fits snugly across the tank. then with a
drill and cutter, cut 2 circles for the gloves to fit but make sure the hole
is slightly smaller. glue the outer collar flat against the Plexiglas so it
seals and affixes the gloves to the wholes and no air can get through. wipe
the insides and the Plexiglas with isopropyl alcohol and be very careful to
get most of the dust out. clean all tools and place tools,small pliers and a
collection container of choice inside, sticky rat trap and place the damprid
silica gel packs (2 of them) inside, place the two drives (mark the bad one)
inside and seal the box and affix electrical tape around the whole thing.
let the whole thing sit for 5-8 days (allowing the silica gel packs to
absorb moisture, and allowing the residual dust to settle on the sticky rat
trap.

Take apart the bad drive removing all parts and carefully dropping them on
the collection container. try not to stir dust or move quickly. the final
step is removing the platter assembly and placing it aside carefully. Open
the good drive and remove the heads and platter assembly and swap the
original drives assembly into the new drive. reinstall head assembly and
close drive.

With the rigged drive place it as the primary master in your PC, place the
Brand new drive (remember when I said buy 2 new identical drives) as
secondary master. Boot with the Norton ghost Diskette and image the rigged
drive to the new identical drive. And there you have it, a recovered drive.
This is what those 600+ recovery outfits do anyways.

Maxtors/Quantums are easy to do, I am not sure about the WD and how hard
they are.