Swap plates in HD?

[shifter]

I have an old hard drive which i used for bacup of personal files whilst i replaced another HD. However the drive was fine for the write but as soon as i tried to copy back the bacup drive failed. I think the spindle is damaged as the head jumps constantly.
Me being me i didnt do any other bacups so i lost a lot of important stuff and the missus is gonna kill me. DOH.

Anyway, the question is this. I have heard rumours that i can place the plates into another drive of similar capicity and it MAY work. Is there any truth in this?

If so does it need to be same manufacturer, and what about size differances between the two drives, will the mobo be able to work with it etc.

Cheers for any help.

 

[JMMD]

Are you talking about swapping the actual drive platters or just swapping the circuit board on the drive?

 

[shifter]

I dont know. How do i know if its the circuit board or the actual heads. I presumed it would be the coil or somthing that controls the positioning of the heads. Also, would the circuit board be compatable with another head as that sounds easier and more likly to work than having to dissasamble the whole drive.

Thanks for replying