How to Swap Hard Disk Drive Platters

This is an article regarding swapping hard drive platters. This is not a procedure for the technically inept or faint hearted. The following carries no guarantees, and defiantly voids and nullifies any existing warranty.

1. Know that this is only a last resort. You have tried everything else, your data is not extremely important, and/or your cash flow restricts the use of a professional service.
2. Set up a clean work environment. You can not make a super clean environment at home but use some common sense, and do the best you can. Keep air flow to a minimum.
3. Assemble and layout your tools.
4. Don powder-free latex gloves.
5. Ground yourself! If you don't know what is, or how to do it, ask google.
6. Remove the cover of your dead drive. If the cover doesn't just lift off, look for more screws! There are screws under labels.
7. Once the cover is off, inspect the platters. If they are scratched, scorched, warped, or other wise damaged, stop you are done!
8. Set the cover back on - if the platters are physically damaged chances are you will not be able to recover any data. You can still try if you like.
9. Purchase a new HDD with the same model number and firmware version.
10. Test the new HDD. Make sure you can read and write data to and from it.
11. Remove the cover from your donor HDD.
12. Remove the platters from the donor HDD. This is you chance to learn how they are assembled, if you slip and damage parts you can get a new donor. NOTE: if you are dealing with multiple platters they cannot be removed with out the proper equipment. You need a platter removal tool. The next steps are only if you are dealing with a single platter.
13. Remove the platter from your dead HDD.
14. Reassemble the donor drive with dead HDD's platters inside (make sure all the platters are aligned in the same way towards each other as they were in the old drive).
15. Mount the donor drive.
16. Quickly copy your data. You might only get one or two chances to read from the HDD. It might make some horrible noises.
17. Unmount the HDD and discard it. Continued use of the HDD is ill-advised.