Hi All,

I have a WD2500 hard disk that arrived at my office missing the u12/firmware chip. Another data recovery company tried to perform the recovery but did not restore the PCB back into the origonal condition.

I have an identical drive with the same PCB, same date of manufacture and pcb/board #.

When i perform a pcb swap the drive spins up, clicks a few times, powers down, spins up again and clicks a few times then powers off and stays off.

My question is - with a similar PCB, what method can be used to recover the data?

My options are:
* How Swap (not sure how to do this)
* Swap PCB then modify the firmware (i have PC-3000 and SalvationData WD tool).
* Another method.

My 1st problem is, i am not sure if the drive has a PCB problem or if it's actually a damaged head or internal problem. The drive came to me origonally with a burnt motor controller chip but missing the firmware chip.

What would be the best way to recover the data from a disk like this?

Any help would be greatly apreciated.
Zed.

Post some pictures of the pcb. You have PC-3000 and Salvation but your missing the technical experience. If you have all those tools then any other method is just going to confuse you. Why did the previous recovery company take the rom? Are you sure the pcb even had a rom? Your not going to get much help with the way you ask your questions. To a trained tech at a recovery company, testing heads and pcb's is pretty basic.

Q: What would be the best way to recover the data from a disk like this?
A: Sent it to a data recovery company.

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Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

First, I don't claim to be any kind of guru.

Nontheless:

When you say you have an identical drive, I assume that it is the same model (WD2500xx-xxxxxx) and if it is really spot on, the same DCM. If so, chances are that the ROM adaptives are close enough.

I think you've got a bad preamplifier.

However, a WD can click if there is a variation in the heads map, or if there is a single bad head. IIRC, the WD2500 has 6 heads and all of them are turned on, so there isn't much real variation possible. It won't hurt to try two head map arrangements using the PC3000: "by map" and "default" -- and see if that makes any difference. I doubt it will. Be sure to back up all FW on the good drive first, and then restore the donor drive to it's original head map configuration. You can also try selectively turning off heads (only ones that don't have SA).

To hot swap, fire up the good WD on the PC3000 and enter in standby mode using the PC3000 utility. Keep all cables connected; remove the 4 screws that fasten the PCB and carefully put it on top of the other HDA. Then select "recalibrate." If you are lucky, the drive may come ready, and you can fix or check firmware, etc.

That's the diagnostic steps I would try. Maybe a "real" guru will set me straight . . .

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention. Be sure to read the PC3000 manual . . .

Jon

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

jono-ats,

The pcb i have here is identical in every way, even the same date of manufacture, full model #, pcb board number, full dcm match and date.

I tried the head map trick and also the hot swap, in both cases - the disk still clicks.

This disk has 6 heads. So a little reluctant to a head swap.

What would be the best way to confirm it's a pre-amp problem?

We remove the screws first, before powering up the donor, and put on plastic clamps (the small ratchet ones) over the motor connectors and headstack connectors. Then power up, spin up, wait, spin down and swap to bad disk, using clamps again. Saves those little screws rolling around. Have said that, a hot swap has only worked once for me in 10 tries! so who am I to comment.....

You might be able to spot it with a signature analysis device, or an ohmmeter.

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

I think there's probably a damaged preamp in the background...
I would check it...
pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Pepe Sir ,
You Are The ACe In Head And Preamp Testing ,Teach Us Some Tricks Too

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Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Hello

Measure the preamp connector's 2 closest pin to the HDA's corner + one pcb tightening hole as GND. (don't touch the other pins)
Measure this three point in both polarity and all combination in diode (-|>|-) mode, and write down the values for as.

Pepe or me, can say to you the preamp is damaged or hope not.

Regards,
Janos

This ohmmmeter thing drives me nuts. USE A SCOPE !!!!!!

Agree, a scope is a better solution, but the DMM is more common.
The preamp's power pins are enough strong for the common DMMs.....

Janos

I would disagree with the scope thing as U probably have to apply power to the preamp to do measurements with a scope, don't U?
if U apply power and the preamp is in bad condition, it is possible that some smoke will leave the preamp and rest silently uppon the platters... causing more and more problems.
DMM is pretty easy and shows problems pretty well... at least when the source of the damage is related to some kind of overvoltage.
There are other types of preamp problems when there's not change we can measure externally this way, but that's another story of course.

pepe

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It's harmless... The drive has worked, It would have already smoked, then no problem, or it takes only a few seconds to see/take snapshot/acquire on digital sampling scope. Be logic!

I am trying... that's why I wrote it is easier to check the power lines with multimeter first without applying any voltage to it.
am I missing something?

pepe

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Have you guys covered this before on this forum? If so where and were there any pics? The only thing I don't get is "2 closest pin to the HDA's corner". I am assuming you're speaking about the pins that connect the Head Assembly to the PCB but closest to the HDA's corner is what confuses me. I guess I'm not oriented to the way that you're laying out the drive.

Janos probably mean that there is a quick way to check for evident shorts in the preamp IC, but this won't help in case of OPEN or degraded preamp. That's why I go for a qualitative AND quantitative analysis. My method never fails, but specific equipment is needed.

Ok so I just like trying out new methods that I haven't used before. I busted out my DMM and started testing. What are common values that indicate that the preamp is functional? Are Seagate's normally OPEN? I tested a Seagate and got no readings where I thought I was supposed to put the connectors. I assumed that's what you meant by open. Any specific equipment that can be shared? Like an oscilloscope? How do you perform the measurements that you prefer to the ohmmeter?

Thanks in advance.

Agree.
most of the times the idea of checking preamps comes up after an overvoltage issue and these cases can mostly detected by multimeter.
As I wrote I also faced other types of preamp failures, I am not talking about these.

pepe

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