My Hitachi Deskstar HDS722525VLAT80 PCB board fried from a power surge. If you see the pic, you can see the burnt chip. Will a replacement PCB get this thing back? If so, is there anyone who can take my current PCB and return me a replacement PCB with the correct NVRAM parameters?

Thank you in advance.

New matching PCB + Move U6 NVRAM chip

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Data Recovery Ireland

Thank you, CK. I'm glad this is fixable. Just a couple of questions.

1. Is the U6 chip on the other side of the PCB? I'm asking because between the labels U6 and U7, there's one 8-prong chip, but it's closer to U7.

2. After the surgery, do I need to re-flash the EEPROM with the same version as the one that I used to have? If so, can I do this while attached with just my computer, or do I need special hardware?

3. I'm looking for a doner on ebay. Which codes do I have to match in order for the PCB swap to work?

Thank for very much!

I'm not a data recovery pro, but I believe you need to transfer U5 to your donor. That's the NVRAM.

BR93L76RF, Rohm, L76R, Microwire BUS 8Kbit (512 x 16bit) EEPROM, SOP-8P.
http://www.rohm.com/products/databook/e ... r93l-e.pdf

The location at U6/U7 is set aside for a serial flash memory. AIUI, if you match the firmware, then you don't need to move this chip. The reason for the two pinouts is so that the one location can accommodate either of two physically different chips, with each chip having an identical function, and identical connection points to the MCU. I can't make out the part number on the IC, but it looks like it begins with SST which would be Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thank you fzabkar. Sorry about the blurry pic. The U5 chip says:

L76R
3K99W

Is this the firmware that I need to match?

And, if I can't find he right match, then I can simply move the old chip on a doner PCB. But when searching for a doner PCB, which numbers should I be matching to get a working board?

Also, a general question. This occurred AFTER my APC UPS. It appears that my Antec 500W power supply hiccuped and sent an over or inverted voltage to the everything attached to it. So I have similar burnt out components on the mobo, graphics card, all hard drives, DVD and DVD drive.

The question is, for this Deskstar, should I expect the data on the platter to be lost due to the irregular voltage? And what are my chances of the motor being ok?

Thank you for any help!

Btw, you're right about the U7 chip being SST. It's very tiny, but with an 8x loupe, I can barely make out:

SST
45LF040
10-4C-SA
0313036-AA

I don't know if this addl info helps at all....

Also, in my search so far, I've been coming up with PCB's with no chip @ U7. Is this acceptable, as long as I transfer the chip @ u5?

I don't know about the 45LF040, but here is an SST45LF010-10-4C-SA:

SST45LF010-10-4C-SA, Silicon Storage Technology, Inc, 1 Mbit Serial Flash, 3.3V:
http://www.datasheetarchive.com/pdf/get ... .pdf&scan=

"3K99W" is probably a batch/date code.

As for your question regarding the absence of an external flash chip at U6/U7, ISTR a post where someone was successful in using such a board. IIRC, he only needed to transfer U5. However, I believe he used a donor with matching firmware, thus ensuring that the donor MCU's internal code matched the code in U6/U7. I can't find that particular thread, though ...

I believe the OP in this thread may have been lucky:
hitachi-hds722516vlsa80-pcb-need-t15795.html

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I hope you won't mind me asking, but I'm rather new to this sort of thing, and I know very little about electronics.

I get the sense that all I have to match is the (1) P/N and (2) MLC #'s, and transfer the NVRAM chip regardless of the presence of the U7 chip?

Or are there other numbers I need to be mindful of?

An owner of a Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 in another forum reports that he successfully used a "PCB with the same drive model, MLC, and first two PCB codes". He transferred the 8-pin NVRAM chip.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thank you for that info. Since December, I did get a replacement PCB, but either the PCB match wasn't good enough, or I damaged the board while transferring the NVRAM chips.

I will try again ans post my results.

On a side note, I had another drive by WD that was also fried. I didn't post this drive on this hddguru forum because the files on that drive were not important, and I only got its replacement PCB as an afterthought from the same supplier as the Hitachi PCB. Anyway, to cut to the chase, that drive had suffered the same power surge damage, and its symptoms were (1) no power up and (2) burnt PCB. With a doner PCB, the NVRAM transplant was successful, and the drive now runs perfectly as if nothing had happened. I ran the WD diag utility (quick and deep), and no problems. All files are intact as well. So, lesson learned for me is: PCB replacement is definitely possible, so try it before consulting with professional recovery services.

Also, for anyone who thinks these chips are impossible to solder without professional tools, I thought so until this video showed me how easy it was to de-solder and re-solder surface mount chips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NN7UGWYmBY

You can also search youtube for "soldering surface mount" and you'll find more DIY videos.