We had a hard drive go down yesterday, the armature that reads the plate has stopped working.........as opposed to spending $2k, we've thought of replacing the plate into another drive of exactly the same make and model......and ideas, cautions, wisdom or prayers?

this is, of course, in an effort to recover some very important data....the drive itself is insignificant...

Data recovery services are available to do this for you. Do a search on google to find a reputable company. The work is very delicate and must be done by specialists in a clean room.

...and as you have indicated, sending it to a data recovery firm can be very expensive... and if the data is very important, that is really the only way to do it... However, what you suggest doing can be done...I have not done it, but I know of one guy that did it and it was successful... Find another HD EXACTLY like yours...take them both apart and make the mechanical swaps and immediatly slave it to another computer if if you can see it, immediatly copy everything you can get...Waste no time when you start doing it... This is what my buddy did and it worked for him... But if it doesn't work, you have lost everything... Good Luck Steve

Remember that work on hard drives is normally done in a 'Clean Room' which is a room that is absolutely dust free. Any invisible particle in the drive that winds up in the wrong place can cause a head crash and cause worse problems.

If the data is that important i would not open the drive unless I were in a clean room. As some of the the other post have stated. If you do make the attempt. Make sure you have a very clean work area set up. Turn off the AC in the house and all that stuff to stop the dust and other particals from flying around. Dont totch the top ob bottom of the disks. and by all means dont sneeze. yes it has been done. I have done it. Does it work everytime? NO!! So if the data is that Import... Send it out! Most Data recovery places charge about $150 a hour. and you can figure at least 3 hours. to have it done right.

If it is stuck/frozen... It is my understanding that a good whack can free it for copying the data. Take out the drive and drop it flat on the floor from about 3 inches (7cm). Never had the problem so I do not know.