Looking for spare parts - Read / Write Head assembly

Hi there

does anyone know where one could buy a spare read/write head assembly for a 2.5 inch drive?

I have 2 drives with damaged heads and am hoping to recover some data off them…

Once upon a time, many moons ago, one could buy every component down to the last nut and bolt. In fact I still have a Control Data parts catalogue that is as thick as the telephone book for a small country. However, today you will need to do what the data recovery professionals do, and that is to go scrounging in the second hand market.

That said, a head swap is not the sort of thing that a first-time DIY-er would consider doing. Aside from a proper cleanroom, you would preferably use a “head comb”, and you should practice on expendable drives.

Here is some light reading …

http://hddguru.com/articles/2006.02.17-Changing-headstack-Q-and-A/
http://www.hddsurgery.com/tools/categories/1 (Video Guides / Animations / Manuals)

Hi fzabkar

thanks for your prompt response!! Interesting… I contacted a local data recovery company because i read on their site that they buy spare parts in case of irrepairable damage. Unfortunately they dont sell parts on and the guy was also not interested in sharing his suppliers… trade secrets and all :slight_smile:

regarding the DIY thing… live and learn… i had 2 drives, one read/write head was not working… so i attemted to swap out the bad head for the good head, just to recover the data, and in the process i broke the 2nd head, scratched the disc surface…  worst week of my life!!

 I’m still hopefull i can get some data back if i could just find the part…

thanks for the links!!

cheers