Hi guys,

I manage to to ruin my 500GB external hdd by plugging in the wrong power cord. The PCB was fried in the process.

I have since bought a replacement PCB. Although its not an exact match, the HDD spins without any clicking sound. It shows up on disk management. However, a pop up message appears telling me that I must initialize the disk before local disk manager can access it. Will I lose all data if I initialize it?

I've posted pics of the original PCB and the replacement PCB. I've also posted pics of the pop up messages. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Please HELP!

Many thanks!

It's not being recognised, because the PCB doesn't have the correct ROM version and/or adaptive information in it. This is stored inside the MCU (large "M" chip).

First thing to check is the diodes D4 and D5 (top right of second photo).

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Hi, was the drive from an external WD enclosure? If so it's encrypted as well.
You should contact member Pcimage, he's in Peterborough and can help you out

Bosse

_________________
Rescue IT Datarecovery service Sweden
Rescue IT Dataräddning Göteborg AB
http://www.rescue-it.se

I think this is bad news for me.
Diode D4 is properly charred.

Yes it's from an external HDD. Thanks! @mr_spokk and @pcimage.

What options do I have?

Looks like you've removed D4, and its taken the resistor R64 with it

Hopefully it's just the PCB and not the preamp too, so if you wanna send it to me I'm happy to take a look and see if we can sort it out for a reasonable charge

Drop me an email if you like, as you won't be able to PM due to being a new member. Contact details at website in my sig.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Was the external drive a My Book Essentials or My Book Elements? Essentials are encrypted whereas Elements are not.

Do you have a multimeter? We could measure a few voltages to confirm that you haven't damaged the PCB in the area of the 12V TVS diode. If that's the only problem, then we may be able to get you going with a wire link.

BTW, just in case you were confused, it's D4 and D3 that you should be looking at, not D4 and D5.

Does BIOS detect the drive with the donor PCB? Does it report its correct model number? What capacity does it report?

Can you retrive the drive's firmware resources with SeDiv?

http://sediv2008.narod.ru/Easy3.9Passwo ... 567890.rar
http://sediv2008.narod.ru/Settings.rar

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Yes, D3 and D4. Typo

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

... and clean the HDA connector pads with a white eraser, while you're at it.
http://prntscr.com/4xsbgn

_________________
Sabo Computer Repairs & Data Recovery

Thanks guys,

I'll have a go and get back.

I haven't mentioned that I'm no longer in possession of my old PCB. Is there still a way of retrieving data without the old PCB?

Hi Fzakbar,

One of the files is rar files is password protected. Where would I find the password?

Cheers

Sorry I just noticed the password!

Hi fzakbar, this is what appeared. I'v tried running in different compatibility modes but still the same result. Any suggestions? I'm running windows 7, 64bit system.

Thanks.

Try Windows XP (native).

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.