Overvolted external hdd, removed TVS diodes, no change

[RolandJS]

fzakbar, thanks for clarifying! I'm learning from you and many others in here

[idoneeffedup]

Data retrieved! Thank you all so much for your help! Sorry for the long break before getting back to y'all. Vacation and personal things have kept me away.

Turns out the drive is completely readable internally. As some background, the first thing I did after overvolting the drive was to try to hook it up to my PC internally, and the computer wouldn't start. I When I hit the power button, absolutely nothing happened, I'm assuming because of the TVS diodes had blown. Then, it seems that the USB-SATA bridge failure (thank you for noticing, rogfanther) wouldn't let me power the drive up externally.

So in the end, all I needed to do was drop it into my PC after clipping the TVS diodes, and now it works.

I was under the impression (as most of you were) that my PC wouldn't be able to read the drive, but I didn't have to use any software or anything. Just booted the computer, and I see the drive sitting there in 'This PC' with the data all there and readable. If this is unique among external hard drives, it seems this is a major selling point for the Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive (Model #SRD00F2).

So I'm transferring data at this moment. I've learned a few lessons from this whole ordeal. Again, thanks for your help and input!

[fzabkar]

I was under the impression (as most of you were) that my PC wouldn't be able to read the drive, but I didn't have to use any software or anything. Just booted the computer, and I see the drive sitting there in 'This PC' with the data all there and readable.

That's good to know. Thanks for your feedback, and congratulations.

[jaksa95]

fzabkar,

Hi everybody,

I learned a lot about data recovery from this forum, especially from Fzbakar's comments. I successfully recovered a couple of disks I had corrupted and damaged, but I faced a challenge that seems like it's impossible to solve now.

My WD3000F9YZ-09N20L0 had been in an overvoltage situation and it stopped working. I connect the disk, but it doesn't spin, doesn't show in the computer BIOS or OS. Since I have three such disks, two in a different computer I tried to replace PCBs between the broken disk and donor one and changed the BIOS as well. The disk had started but the capacity read by BIOS was 2.19TB and it couldn't read the disk's serial and any details about the disk. It looks like it couldn't read the bios(firmware), but I am not sure. Then I put the firmware back to the original (broken) PCB (because I thought it couldn't work on the other disk's PCB) and replaced the TVS diode, but that didn't help either. The disk now starts and is recognized by the computer, but it still doesn't show the disk serial number or capacity, or any other detail. It can't be initialized. When it was with the other PCB it was clicking, but now with the original PCB it just starts spinning, but it doesn't click. I've opened the disk for a split second and heads are positioned in the normal position as if they were in standby, they were not stuck on the plates of the disk.

My only concern is the BIOS (Firmware) dead or is some other diode or chip dead for protection of the firmware or due to voltage surge.

This is the PCB I have: https://www.hddzone.com/wd-2060771822002-pcb-p-567.html

I would appreciate any help regarding the issue since I have some data I would like to recover from this disk.

Thanks in advance,
Milos

[fzabkar]

If the drive spins up, then the "ROM" firmware is OK.

Which diode was shorted (D3 or D4), and was its associated zero ohm resistor (R67 or R64) open circuit?

[jaksa95]

Hi,

Thanks for this quick answer. It was a D3 diode.

[jaksa95]

If the drive spins up, then the "ROM" firmware is OK.

Which diode was shorted (D3 or D4), and was its associated zero ohm resistor (R67 or R64) open circuit?

It was D3 that was replaced. I haven't checked R67 or R64, I can check them tomorrow. Is there anything else I should be aware of?

BTW, what makes no sense to me is that when I put the firmware on the new PCB and connected it to the disk, it was spinning and clicking five times, then it was unavailable to initialize. Why didn't it work with the new PCB when it's 100% working board?

[fzabkar]

Clicking suggests that the overvoltage on the 5V input killed the preamp on the headstack. What I don't understand is why your original PCB doesn't click.

If you can upload a detailed photo of your PCB, I can show you where to test the preamp.

[jaksa95]

Hi,

Thank you for your answer and sorry for the delay, I've been very busy at my work.

So here is the image of my PCB. As you can see one TVS Diode is now replaced and the disk is now shown in disk manager (can't be initialized), starts rotating but no head sound. However when I put the same PCB, but from the other disk, it starts rotating and heads click 5 times and then stop for some time, then they click 5 times two more times and that's it.

Can I give you any other details?

Attachments

[DRUG]

Hi,

Thank you for your answer and sorry for the delay, I've been very busy at my work.

So here is the image of my PCB. As you can see one TVS Diode is now replaced and the disk is now shown in disk manager (can't be initialized), starts rotating but no head sound. However when I put the same PCB, but from the other disk, it starts rotating and heads click 5 times and then stop for some time, then they click 5 times two more times and that's it.

Can I give you any other details?

That ROM swap looks sketchy.

[pepe]

When it was with the other PCB it was clicking, but now with the original PCB it just starts spinning, but it doesn't click.

Preamp is probably gone. And you can only hope for the damaged preamp did not wreck your data. Yeah, you may have learnt a lot but not enough, since most of the times the guys recommending TVS diodes or pcb do not tell you it is a large scale kind of hazard.
Contact HelpDisc if your data is important.
pepe

[fzabkar]

So here is the image of my PCB. As you can see one TVS Diode is now replaced and the disk is now shown in disk manager (can't be initialized), starts rotating but no head sound. However when I put the same PCB, but from the other disk, it starts rotating and heads click 5 times and then stop for some time, then they click 5 times two more times and that's it.

Can I give you any other details?

Sorry, I can't identify the preamp supply pins just by visual inspection. I expect they would be near the 1 & 2 end of the connector.

[ddrecovery]

That ROM swap looks sketchy.

Totally agree.

[jaksa95]

The data is not so important to justify investing 1000USD into the recovery in HelpDisc. I already worked with them and they are such professionals, but I can't pay that amount for this kind of data. Still wanna try to recover it since I have the same disk for donor parts.

What would be your suggestion? Retry the ROM swap?

Thanks, everyone.

[ddrecovery]

If you can send a closeup shot of the ROM that would help.

[pcimage]

The data is not so important to justify investing 1000USD into the recovery in HelpDisc. I already worked with them and they are such professionals, but I can't pay that amount for this kind of data. Still wanna try to recover it since I have the same disk for donor parts.

What would be your suggestion? Retry the ROM swap?

Thanks, everyone.

How did you come to make up that figure of 1000USD ?

[jaksa95]

Well, it might not be 1000 USD, but I would still like to avoid as many costs as possible since this is not that much important data.

According to their pricelist head replacement is ~350USD. But this is not the point of the discussion: What can I do to recover data from this disc?

@ddrecovery I can share the close up on Wednesday. Thank you for your effort.

[fzabkar]

@jaksa95, can you do some measurements on your donor PCB?

Start by measuring the resistance between the 5V input at the SATA power connector and each of the pins of the HDA connector (J1).

https://pinoutguide.com/Power/sata-power_pinout.shtml

If you find no connection, then use the 5V TVS diode as the 5V source for your measurements.

Otherwise, it may be that the power is switched by the "6BTAV" SOT23-6 component.

Si3456BDV-T1-E3, Vishay Siliconix, MOSFET, 30V 5.1A 2W N-ch, marking 6Bxxx, TSOP-6:
https://www.vishay.com/docs/72544/72544.pdf

Next find which of the pins of J1 connect to ground (eg a screw hole).

Then measure the resistance between these 5V and Ground pins at the connector on the drive. That should tell you whether the preamp is dead.

[pepe]

1000USD into the recovery in HelpDisc.

i am sure it is not even half of that there. Or about there...

What can I do to recover data from this disc?

You can measure like fzabkar wrote, but with no experience in the field it is likely you won't know how to interpret measurements.
Since the drive was clicking after pcb and ROM replacement, it is very likely the preamp is gone and each power cycle leaves you with less chance to recover the data.
I thik you should be busy thinking about what you would do after all your attempts failed. If you come to the conclusion that you would take the drive there, you'd better do it now or at least at this stage before you screw it up more.
pepe

[jaksa95]

@fzabkar
I will research the references you attached. Thank you very much.

@pepe It is. My latest recovery cost me about 600+USD in HelpDisc. I understand your point of view. I will think about alternatives.

@pepe What do you reckon, would I achive anything if I transfer heads from my donor disk to the damaged one?

Cheers