Hello, I have a HM321HI/SRM which kind of stopped working. I have years of family pictures on this HD, so I really need to fix it to recover these files.

If I leave the HD powered off for a few hours, when I connect it to the PC, it is possible to read the drive, see folders... just for a few seconds. Then I hear what I think it is the heads parking sound and then drive stops spinning. It is not even recognized by the PC anymore.

I have to wait a few hours, then it happens just like I explained before.

I believe the problem is on the PCB, as I found some oxidized components on the component side.

I have a few questions about this HD:

1. What is the meaning of /SRM on the code? I found several HD to buy on internet - to use as donor -, but their codes ends with /SRN, /SRO, /SRP...

2. Would a board from a HD with code variation as I mentioned above work in my drive?

3. Do I really need to do a BIOS swap? Any chance to find a donor HD which has compatible BIOS?

Additional info: FW 2AJ10001, Rev A, Mercury rev.07 R00, board BF41-00306A 00.

Any help will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

You just need to match the board number, it doesn't matter which variation it came from. You will definitely have to swap the ROM chip from your board to the replacement one, it is not possible to get any data if you put a board with a different ROM.

Thanks for the clarification, we do not see many Samsung drives here. I would still play safe and swap ROM, it is a simple soldering job, but that's just me.

Hi,

During my research in hope to retrieve my data from a faulty hard drive I found this interesting forum and I'm happy to join the community

I also have issues with a Samsung HM321HI drive, which is not working anymore. When I connected it to my PC over SATA, it wasn't recognized in BIOS at all and also the motor wasn't running (no noises at all). As some contacts on the board looked oxidated, I decided to buy a new PCB with the same revision and board number and replaced it with the original PCB. When I connect the hard drive now, I hear the motor spinning but still the hard drive is not recognized in BIOS. Also I tried it with a SATA/USB adapter (ASMT 2105) and shortly after plugging it to my USB port, I see it for about 10 seconds in the device manager, before it disappears again.

To me it looks like some kind of check in the beginning seems to be failing and therefore the hard drive is not starting properly (maybe firmware is different between those boards). Therefore I wanted to ask, if this a clear indication that I should swap the ROM or if there's any other possibility which I could try to analyze this behaviour (some analysis tool to read some diagnostic data etc.).

Thank you in advance

@Avsfan89, can you show us the output from the drive's terminal port?

How to connect a terminal adaptor on a Samsung drive ?
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=116&t=189

You should be able to find a USB-TTL adapter for US$5 or less.

TTL adapter:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=192

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for your quick replies! I'll order the USB-TTL adapter and see what information I can retrieve from the terminal.

Hi everyone!

After a while, I had time to pick up this topic again.

I've connected the terminal port to my PC and was seeing this output:



Does anyone have an idea, what I could try here to make the HDD running again?

Avsfan89,
>Platform Invalid MC Head

Wrong PCB configuration

Can you upload a photo of your original PCB? There are a few voltage test points you could measure.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Could be issue I have met this before. As I remember rom transfer haven't enough . That drive still in my hand I guess

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Donor Drives hdddonormarket.com

Here are the supply voltage test points.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

He put the donor PCB on the patient without Flash chip swap. FIPS mismatch.