I hooked up this External drive to a laptop power supply and it doesn't work anymore.

It contains 8 years or more of photo's (not backed up) including last 5 years with all pictures of my children. Suffice to say: I need the data back.

My skills in this (or pretty much any hardware related thing) are minimal. I do have a brother in law with more skills and experience. My brother in law and people from another forum have been trying to help me out but I don't have the data back at this moment.

So far:
The HD has been removed from the external cover and my brother in law put it in an old PC he had lying around: the PC won't even power up after the HD is plugged into the PSU.

We also took some photographs from the HD:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/7qodug77dxndru0/AACoWk1vYSKoEHpMLg-vnPXma
This link contains a slideshow with 4 photo's I took.
- the sticker with all the info on the back of the HD
- 3 pictures of the PCB, one with a component that seems broken outlined in red, and a close up of that component

According to people on the dutch forum the broken component is a 12v TVS (STmicro, marked BUX, C652).

I was wondering what to do next and I would like to know the chances of succes and the risk that the data will become unrecoverable by professionals.

These seem to be possible options I know so far:

1. Go to professionals. As far as I know with this sort fo damage this should be nearly 100% save and 100% succes. However this is expensive (the ones hitting high on google asking 500 euro +, I also found one of 300 (who also seems to have a clean room) and a few lower (one starts at 175, but not sure if it will be that price for this sort of damage too).

2. Find another Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST 3320620A and swap PCB.
--> it's an older HD and not many around. I do see one for sale in my country for a reasonable price 25E excl shipping). However on the other forum it's said that this will probably not work because important info is on the PCB and that is not the same on all HD of the same type.

3. Remove the broken TVS. They said removing it should remove a short circuit but the HD would be vulnerable to more damage with powerspikes.
--> I'd not know where to start with removing the thing but I could look into that (or get advice here?)


Basicly I need to know more about option 2 and 3.
--> How do you see chances of succes?
--> what risk will I be taking with the actual data on the platters?
------>I would think that option 2 should be save to try but I would like to hear from you all (experts I hope) that it is indeed save/ and I'd only try it if it has a reasonable chance of succes.
-------> I can see the chance of more damage with removing the TVS: will that damage be limited to the PCB or could the data on the platter also get damaged? Would this move mean professionals could not retried the data anymore (I realize they will probably charge more after I mess with it myself.. I get that I am willing to take a risk with the money, just not with the data.

I hope you all can help me make the right decision. Don't hesitate to say I just need to go to professionals if you really think that is what I should do btw.

Yes it seems that the TVS is broken. You can desoldered it and it will work again.
You should pay attention to the power supply unit to be a good one when you plug it in.
Then you should make a copy of your data to another HDD and this will probably be enough.

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I think like PcLab.

If you unsolder it probably you can access to HDD and copy data them waste drive.

YOu need an iron and skils off unsoldering

Snip the diode's pins with sharp, flat jawed flush cutters. Fingernail clippers might also work.

See http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/TVS_diode_FAQ.html

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for the quick replies:

So basicly I just need to cut those broad (relatively) metal parts I see on both sides of the broken TVS?

I do not need to "reconnect" anything after that (messing with soldering might be above me)?

What are the risks I'm taking? I know if I dont'succeed and I need to call in professionals I will probably need to pay more: I can accept that. What are the risk so my data (I have a new PSU lying around (Corsair CS550M, gold rated) and I could use that (the pc we have been using probably has somethign older and presumably less reliant)) I know powerspikes are the danger and I'm assuming the risks with that PSU I mentioned are low BUT what if it happens : will the data be at risk (or will something similar to the TVS burn and die --> which woulnd't totally prevent future recovery). Are there other risks I'm not aware of?

Also: am I save to assume that this TVS is the only thing damaged by hooking the HD up with a laptop powersupply (19 V 4.5 A if I recall correctly)? I think this thing is meant to burn through to protect what lies behind it.. or could more be damaged?

hi aezeal.

test drive with your ner PSU, if behaibour is the same probabky TVs problems

as posted here you can detavh TVs. There is risk always , but in this case is low risk.

if you want you can externaluze work. i know people near you. i think mayvmbe 50 - 100 eur

The link fzabkar gives seems to describe exactly the behaviour of my drive. I guess that means that the solution would be to remove the TVS. As it is discribed I think even I could do it.. just cut the metal thingies on the side, no need (even wrong to do so) to solder anything there.

Which leaves only my risk question. IF I get a powerspike, even with my new gold rated PSU, what will be damaged, some other diode or resistance thingie or can actual data on the platters also be damaged? I mean the PSU should not give spikes like the one I used to fry the HDD (with the laptop powersupply) anyway right?

You can get a completely burned PCB, Preamp....

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Be sure that your PSU work fine.
Better if you attach this PSU to a power stabilizator. using this way you not should have spikes (overpower) for sure.

Ok after some private messaging I decided to go and try to remove the diode. I waited till today because my brother in law (more tech affinity than me, but not really in Data recovery or diode removal) was coming by today.

He was not quite sure we SHOULD do this (afraid that when not succesful my wife would kill me AND him) but once I said I wanted to try he somehow convinced me that instead of cutting the connections (or desoldering the diode) we could just use pointed pliers to remove it. I'm not sure how he went from not sure we should do this to OK let's do this with brute force and why I went along with it but... I got the pliers and but them on the diode. When pulling I just shattered the whole thing. And when pulling the remains we got most of it out (and it was certainly disrupted) but it also looked like the connection on the PCB was somewhat loose. We had NO IDEA wether this was a problem or not and with a heartrate of .. 200/300 per minute we build the HDD in the PC.

Ofcourse the new PC with the Goldrated PSU (corsair CS550M) did not have a IDE port. So we build the HDD in an old PC he brought with him but hooked it up on the PSU of my new PC.

AND .... I'm copying the last files from the HDD now.. TOTAL VICTORY. You all know this before my wife even because she's not yet home from her evening shift. Having said that: next time I'll be using cutters to remove the diode.

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP.

Glad it worked.

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Congratulations Aeseal!