Hi, I got two 'dead' hard drives and am wondering how expensive it will be to recover data from them.
Both hard drives are Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1500GB CC1H (ST3150041AS)/

The first one died after vacuuming the computer, could have short circuited when the dust got in there (wild guess). There is no visible marking on the back of the board.
This hdd does not spin up at all. There is no noise or any indication of activity or power.

The second one has a large charred section, not sure what happened but after moving my hard drive to another bay it started to smoke so I immediately shut down the computer.

I currently don't have access to a Trox screwdriver so I can't take photos of the component side, I'll add them when I get my hands on one.

Have seen a lot of charred PCBs, but never like that in the way yours is.

How expensive? Well, it depends on the extent of damage.

What's your budget for each or both?

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

If you are lucky, a DIY fix will cost nothing, otherwise a board swap and firmware transfer shouldn't cost more than US$40.

Waiting for your photos ...

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I'd like to set up a poll to gauge the number of folks who think the preamp is probably damaged as well on the drive with the major meltdown . . .

I don't think you are creating a realistic expectation that a $40 investment is gonna fix that one. Now if YOU are willing to fix it for $40 plus shipping, based upon what you discern in the photos, that's another matter entirely.

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

Here are the pictures of the component side.

I do not have any set budget, but I guess I would not fix it if it costs >$200.

$200 is too much.

Send both your boards to fzabkar, he will fix it for you for free or for $80 maximum. (Plus shipping back and forth).

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http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

TGTBT !

Must be Christmas coming....

Waves of TVS and PCB questions and SMART threads... must be the moon

Anyway it seems that both drives were hit by power problems.

The risk is wasting money on spare parts when there's internal damage that cannot be surely pinpointed without tools, diagrams and know how.
Or fry the "new" boards when you power up them.
If this is not a big deal but don't want to spend on pro diagnose / service , I would get in contact with someone who is willing to guide step by step and help for free.

Unfortunately, a multimeter and good will doesn't always work , just like it is not always Sunday.

Good luck.

I thought it was $40 with free shipping. He is a true DR expert.

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Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

If you are lucky with regard to damage extent you could do this for roughly about $200. Otherwise, no way.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

WOW $40 dollars top. That is amazing by all means send it to Franc for this price. I have never seen such a price and wonder who is offering $40 repair services on such a job as this one.

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Iorana Haraharaini

@wonters, see http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/TVS_diode_FAQ.html

The 5V TVS diode on your charred board has taken a big hit. However, you did say that the board only smoked when you changed bays. Presumably this means that the second bay was powered from a different power supply. If you are lucky, and if the damage from the first PSU was contained by the diode, as appears to be the case with the other drive, then the damage caused by the second PSU will not have been due to a second overvoltage, but merely due to its attempt to drive into a short circuit.

My advice to you is to measure the resistance of the 5V TVS diode in your second photo ("QA" marking), as explained in my FAQ. That said, if the diode is shorted, then one would expect the power supply to shut down. You would see a single kick of the fans and then nothing.

As always, I wish you the very best of luck.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Frank- I think youve been called out on this one! Go ahead and fix it for him. If successful post photos and wear your superman outfit! Would be fun if your successful! Best wishes on success!

If the OP invests in a multimeter, then we may be able to save him/her some postage.

As for a superman outfit, I never liked the idea of wearing my underpants on the outside.

Anyway, depending on the outcome, I might have to change my avatar.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately I do not possess a multimeter.

Additionally, both drive were powered by the same power supply. I bought both them together ages ago.

I don't think the damage for the first drive was caused by a faulty power supply since I'm still using that power supply (it's been over a year), I've also got the power supply tested by a friend who said it was OK.

That's why I assumed it was probably caused by either static or dust or something. I did a routine cleaning and when I powered the computer back on it no longer recognised the drive. There is no click or any activity at all when powered on, didn't even know the hardware was damaged and was assuming it was some firmware issue.

As for the second drive, it was fried after I tried to test it by moving it into the bay of the first drive. I'm not sure what the cause is, I have not tried powering it up after what happened to avoid more damage.

Perhaps the above information would offer more insight into the situation.

Oh and also, fzabkar, where about in Australia do you live? (if you don't mind answering) I live in Australia too.

if you are successful here is your new avatar

Jaycar has one for AU$5:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=QM1502


The 5V TVS diode is connected directly across the 5V supply. It would have failed due to an overvoltage on this rail. Therefore ISTM that the PSU is at fault. A PSU may look good under a steady load, but will often misbehave when the load changes abruptly. I suggest you remove its cover and examine the capacitors on the DC side. Look for leakage and swelling.

See http://www.badcaps.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32

That said, a shorted TVS diode should cause your supply to shut down, so I'm puzzled as to the actual fault on the other board. As for examining your boards personally, I am retired and no longer do any electronics work. Sorry.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Franc,

You are retired, and have no intention of doing any recovery work yourself. Is it fair for you to set pricing expectations for people's recoveries (sight-unseen), for those who are not yet retired?

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

he only gives "francly" suggestions but doesn't do data recovery, it's much easier to be a "forum superhero" than do actual work

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SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

That's unfortunate. I thought I found someone in Australia who could do data recovery without bankrupting me.

Note that all the data recovery experts I've talked to pretty much starts off with a price of ~$400 for any sort of hardware failure and it only gets more expensive from there depending on the 'damage'.

I might go get a multimeter when I've got the time (probably on a weekend).

In the meantime, can you guys give me an approximation for the cost of repair for the drive assuming no additional damage and more importantly can you recommend me some good local data recovery expert?

Oh, I also don't have to repair both drives since whatever data I can get is good. (the drives hold partial backups of each other, though after this I keep my backup hard drives attached to different power sources).