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 Post subject: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 1:22 
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Joined: June 10th, 2018, 0:28
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Location: East Coast USA
Hello, I am hoping to get some tips, advice, or even a service recommendation for recovering data from a failed physical hard drive. I am a new member to the forums, but am in a real bind. I will try to keep this short and to the point. I have read related threads on this forum, but I think this might be unique based on the steps I took. Thank you!

Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB WD7501AALS circa 2010.

As part of an unprecedented string of bad luck for me and my family this week, a loose wire on my PSU caused a short circuit that destroyed 4 hard drives. A costly problem indeed, but one drive held over 2 decades of personal data that was most recently backed up 4 years ago. The intervening years have added a lot of irreplaceable data to that drive.

Here are the steps I took, foolish as though some may be:
1) Visual examination of PCB shows the Motor Controller IC has burst. No other visual damage.
2) Ordered matching replacement donor drive, which tested good upon receipt.
3) Attempted board swap, but due to more bad luck, this drive does not have a distinct BIOS ROM chip. It is apparently part of the Marvell Controller IC.
4) Attempt to transplant good Motor Controller IC from new PCB to original PCB. Remove original Motor Controller IC first, traces/vias look too badly damaged to receive new Motor Controller.
5) With only a simple rework station, attempt to transplant original Marvell Controller IC to new PCB. I am not able to accomplish this. The attempt rendered several traces/vias visually damaged and not taking solder. The original Marvell Controller IC chip looks visually ok, but has no home and been subject to heat multiple times.

So now I have a blank new drive, the old drive which I am confident houses intact data, 2 dead PCBs, and the original Marvell Controller IC which I am told contains my adaptives and has been subject to stress.

Are there any more or next steps I can take to attempt to recover my data short of spending $1k+ on forensic data recovery? I am wondering if I can have the original Marvell Controller IC (since I have only the chip in hand now, no worthwhile PCB) placed or read and programmed onto a new donor PCB, or any other solution really. Any help at all is greatly appreciated!


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 3:41 
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Joined: March 19th, 2015, 15:01
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Location: isreal
there is a fair chance that the preamp/heads didnt survived and the PCB is just the beginning and you're wasting time/money for nothing

I would suggest to cut your losses and send it to a pro
my 2¢


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 4:12 
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You have PM

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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 4:13 
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Joined: November 29th, 2006, 10:08
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Location: UK
You have PM

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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 4:14 
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Joined: June 10th, 2018, 0:28
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Location: East Coast USA
Ok thank you, I have begun looking at my options regarding a specialist.


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 4:32 
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Joined: September 8th, 2009, 18:21
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Show us a photo of the damage. If the damage is confined to the +12V side of the PCB, then the preamp is probably OK.

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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 12:31 
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Joined: August 18th, 2010, 17:35
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Location: Massachusetts, USA
Where on the east coast is the drive located?

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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 15:51 
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Joined: September 30th, 2005, 7:33
Posts: 849
Spildit wrote:
Then i would check if modules on SA do contain a copy of the ROM modules + ROM image. If so i would re-build ROM from SA and write that to donor PCB.

The drive is Tahoe 2D, so no ROM modules on SA....


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 21:56 
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Joined: June 10th, 2018, 0:28
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Location: East Coast USA
Spildit wrote:
Did you test the "damaged" drive with the donnor PCB without swapping anything ? How did the drive behave ? Spinning without any strange noise or spinning, clicking and spinning down ?

Yes I tried original drive with unmodified donor PCB attached. I think it spun (drive was vibrating), and it definitely clicked. Showed up in BIOS but as a blank item.

labtech wrote:
Where on the east coast is the drive located?

Buffalo, NY

fzabkar wrote:
Show us a photo of the damage. If the damage is confined to the +12V side of the PCB, then the preamp is probably OK.

Here is a picture of what is left of the original PCB and it's components.

https://imgur.com/a/2iI3vNM


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 10th, 2018, 22:36 
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Joined: October 16th, 2013, 13:21
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Hence the recommendations for taking it to a professional before it is too late.


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 11th, 2018, 17:15 
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Had the OP not removed the MCU, there would have been a way for a DIY-er to extract the ROM image from the PCB using the tools at hand.

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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 11th, 2018, 18:04 
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Joined: October 16th, 2013, 13:21
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Care to elaborate a little ?

Also, just a crazy ideia for a rainy day : in the case of absolutely no other option, or just too much free time, couldn´t one rig something to supply the minimum necessary signals to the MCI and read the rom that way ?

Kinda like building a big bridge instead of just swimming across the river, but fun ( acording some definitions )


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 11th, 2018, 18:40 
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Joined: October 16th, 2013, 13:21
Posts: 713
Location: Brazil
Yes, that was already stored for a time when I get two similar boards with some free time to play..

But I´m wondering if is possible to rig something with just the mcu and a couple components. Well , reserved idea for some other occasion


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 11th, 2018, 20:06 
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Joined: June 10th, 2018, 0:28
Posts: 8
Location: East Coast USA
I did reply with answers to the questions posed, but it said it was waiting moderator approval (probably because I linked an image.)

To answer again: The drive is located in Buffalo, NY.

When I hooked the unmodified donor board to the original drive, I believe it did spin (housing was vibrating) and it definitely clicked.

Here is PCB photo https://imgur.com/a/2iI3vNM


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 11th, 2018, 20:10 
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Joined: June 10th, 2018, 0:28
Posts: 8
Location: East Coast USA
I did reply with answers to the questions posed, but it said it was waiting moderator approval (probably because I linked an image.)

To answer again: The drive is located in Buffalo, NY.

When I hooked the unmodified donor board to the original drive, I believe it did spin (housing was vibrating) and it definitely clicked.


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 11th, 2018, 20:11 
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Joined: June 10th, 2018, 0:28
Posts: 8
Location: East Coast USA
Here is pcb photo

imgur dot com/a/2iI3vNM


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 11th, 2018, 20:34 
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I believe that L1, L2, D1 and Q2 constitute the Vcore supply for the MCU. Therefore it is quite possible that the MCU was damaged.

Did you test D3, R67, D4 and R64 near the SATA power connector?

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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 11th, 2018, 20:36 
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Joined: March 19th, 2015, 15:01
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grizzlyaddams wrote:
When I hooked the unmodified donor board to the original drive, I believe it did spin (housing was vibrating) and it definitely clicked.


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 15th, 2018, 1:50 
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Joined: June 10th, 2018, 0:28
Posts: 8
Location: East Coast USA
If pre-amp is gone, will a head swap help? I have it out to a clean room specialist and this is what they are recommending, but it will cost me. They say there may also be platter damage but none visible. Could a short circuit cause platter damage? Drive worked great previously.


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 Post subject: Re: Short Circuit WD HDD Repair Help
PostPosted: June 15th, 2018, 2:33 
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grizzlyaddams wrote:
If pre-amp is gone, will a head swap help?

The preamp is on the headstack.

HDD from inside: Hard Drive Main parts:
http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

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