Replacing the HDD disks

WD External and Portable SSD Portable SSD
1

Hi,

I have a WD WD20EARS HDD model, and it has fallen 1 meter to the ground and it stopped working, i heard that it is possible to change the data disks into another one, but only if it’s the exact same model number.

My question is: is it possible to use a “WDBAAU0020HBK-EESN” model to change the disks ? 

The problem isn’t the HDD but the data, if there’s another alternative of retrieveing the data, please let me know.

Regards & thanks.

2

Open heart surgery on HDDs requires Clean Room environment.

First, it is possible you can recover the data if the drive still spins up. If you can’t detect it spinning (put your ear close to it), try sealing it in a quart freezer zip lock bag. Put it in the freezer for several hours, then hook it up again, keeping it in the bag to limit condensation, and see if it spins up.

If you get it running by whatever means, there are bootable utility disks which can be very helpful for recovering data from failing drives.

If you can’t get it to run by these means, the only real option is expensive data recovery services which do have Clean Rooms. Trying to swap parts in HDDs is extremely unlikely to come out well for those without serious electronic experience and equipment.