I doubt very much you are going to be able to recover that data.
Unless the drive were mounted in shock-proof dampers (unlikely in a standard laptop computer) there's a chance the platters may be smashed.
In the event the platters are still ok, and the motor spindle hasn't been knocked out of alignment, you stand a chance.
Forget about buying tools to remove heads / platters. On laptop drives it's easier to swap the heads without specialist tools - provided you have done this _many, many, many_ times before - and platter extraction kits currently commercially available are rubbish, with very limited application.
Before you do anything else, you should open the drive (in a clean environment, of course) and check that nothing is obviously broken inside.
There's little point in expenditure if nothing is going to recover it.
Duncan
I know we've all been told the "you gotta have a clean room and wear a bunny suit if you're gonna open up a hard drive" story. Not so! Just don't touch the platters. Remember, drives spin at several thousand RPM. Any little bit of dust or pollen will be flung off as the drive comes up to speed. Open up an old drive sometime and closely examine those little filter "pillows" inside. Many times you'll discover they have a thin film of metal on them. Guess where it came from? Spun off the platters!
If you're planning a head replacement, find a used drive of exact model and vintage on Ebay or wherever. That's your "salvaging kit." You'll want to come as close as you can to finding an "identical twin" to your friend's drive.
Again, *if* the heads are damaged, there's going to be platter damage. The poor heads had to bang into something, after all! 😉
I wish you success in your effort; you *will* learn a lot by trying.
What ever happens, DONT follow the advice above!
Our friend contradicts himself. You DO need a clean facility, (perhaps not the bunny suit), because of contaminates. If they were to hit the platter at 5400rpm, they would probably end up scoring the platters thus killing the disks.
You have to ask yourself, how important is this data? then act accordingly.
Regards,
Simon
If the disk isnt working, it could be for dozens of reasons.
Semiconductor crack
Firmware problem
Dry solder problems
Heads crashed
PCB broken
All of the above 'could' be the problem.
One person in the thread spoke of photorec software. At Disklabs, we use over 150 suites of software. Some work better than others.
Do some research on the net. If you believe in a company, see what deal they will do. I will warn, beware, there are lots of 'pretty websites', and very few data recovery experts around.
Good luck.
Simon
PS I would have offered you a free recovery, but we are too busy cry Sorry!