Swapping internal disk in portable drive to another drive

hi there, i have a WD 1.5tb my passport ultra which has unfortunately stopped working. This occured when a family member panicked transfering some data and turned off the computer mid way through. since then it does not registar on any of my computers the majority of the time and when it does i cannot transfer any of the data of it. i do hear a slight click when it is trying. i have tried using windows to fix it with no avail. i have run all the WD diagnostics which takes alot longer than normal but shows nothing wrong with the drive. There is some very important data and photos (some of my recently deceased father) on the drive but i am not in a good enough financial situation to be able to afford professional recovery. i was wondering if it would be possible to remove the disk and fit it in a similar drive. i have watched several videos and i am good at this sort of thing but can not afford to waste money on a drive i could spoil if it is not possible. Advice would be greatly appreciated, to whether this is possible and to if a 2tb drive would be ok, as finding a 1.5tb is proving very difficult.

No. because the internal hdd does not use a standard sata interface (it uses a hard wired USB board connector)

WD-USB-original-mobile-hard-disk-circuit-board-2060-771814-000-for-SATA-interface-board

Hold on a second … are you talking about swapping the internal hard drive platters on a 2.5" inch hard drive ?

if so, then I highly recommend you start saving money for professional data recovery.

thank you for your speedy reply :slight_smile: you are obviously very knowledgeable and i was talking about swapping platters, it sounds like i should save but this would take a very very long time. if i was to attempt it would i need the exact same drive or could i use a 2tb

I would strongly advise against attempting to platter swap even if you find a identical donor drive.

Platter swapping is an absolute last resort and the chances of physical damage, data loss are extremely high. (especially if you have never done it before)

My advice is to NOT attempt to do anything with the hard drive.

Store it in a safe place away from heat or moisture and when the time comes that you are in a better financial situation then take it to a Professional Data Recovery Service.

If the data is very important to you … then why are you willing to attempt something you have no experience in doing and will mostly probably result in the data being destroyed permanently.

DON’T DO IT.

ok thank you so much for your advice, have a good weekend