Hi all,

Well my first post here so a gidday to all.

Came accross this forum in my quest for answers to a problem a friend of mine has with their HDD. The model is below and to be honest never really been a big fan of Hitachi drives and this kind of seals the deal for me. Anyway to keep it simple the drive has data on it that needs recovery so thought I would ask here before sending it to the pro's.

I have found a PCB thru eBay with the same OA and DA number.... one in the States and the other here in Aussie. To look at the drive though there is nothing visibly wrong that I can see but from what I have read the PCB replacement is generally the first step in the process.

So I suppose what I'm asking here is it wise to spend 50 dollars on a replacement PCB or is it possible there may be other issues, mechanical possibly? anyway will chat to the owner to see if the drive was noisy before it crashed in the next few days.

Anyway any tips or pointers greatly appreciated.

HITACHI HTS541612J9SA00 120GB HARD DRIVE

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... K:MEWAX:IT

It's an incorrect assumption that a PCB replacement is the first step. If there's nothing wrong with the PCB then there's no use replacing it.

The most important thing to get right is the diagnosis, you need to establish what is wrong with the drive, which area or component is to blame. It's like a doctor healing a patient. No use him stitching up the patient's face if the arm has a bacterial infection. You need to explain the symptoms in order for someone here to help you make a reasonable diagnosis.

_________________
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Data Recovery Cape Town

Nick is correct.

Symptoms first, then diagnosis.

Unless the drive is completely dead, then PCB is unlikely.

Anyways, you can't just straight swap a PCB on Hitachi 2.5"' drives, they contain unique NVRAM info which needs to be transferred.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
www.pcimage.co.uk

Thanks chaps for the replies, not sure I want to operate on the drive anyway. Thought someone may know something about the Hitachi's that may steer me in the right direction.

Just to clarify the drive doesn't spin up at all and as you would expect no drive detected in the Bios at all so not off to a real good start eh.

As mentioned the PCB replacement part has the same numbers on that board as the dead drive. Not sure about the NVRAM transfer bit so maybe in the to hard basket.

Thanks

Knowing and telling are two different things.

Before you spend any money, check fuse F1 near the SATA power connector. Measure its resistance with a multimeter set to the 200 ohms range. You should be able to get a cheap DMM from Dick Smith or Jaycar.

Also measure the resistance of the components to the left of the fuse in your photo. One may be a TVS diode.

Should you need to replace the board, then the NVRAM is the 8-pin chip at location U6. Your local TV/AV repair shop should be able to transfer this chip to your donor for you.

Here is the photo of the complete PCB:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqR,!i4E3RUKt0h9BN0Z-)Kjmw~~0_3.JPG

Here is the fuse in another Hitachi 2.5" drive:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/HT ... EEPROM.jpg

As always, good luck.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks so much for the reply, really appreciate it. Have taken a couple of pics so you can see my PCB and the possible issues that this particular board may have.

http://www.users.on.net/~hone/Misc/Pics ... 000902.JPG
http://www.users.on.net/~hone/Misc/Pics ... 000904.JPG

Not quite sure where to go to from here, I'm thinking as you have suggested fzabkar have the NVRAM chip replaced onto another PCB and go from there. Either way I greatly appreciate you help. Don't think the people can afford it that own it as she is a pensioner and can't afford a mega amount for a professional recovery.

I"ll look into getting the chip replaced and another PCB .... I can afford to do that for her, if it doesn't work well a valuable lesson on backing up has been learned I'm sure.

Cheers

Dean