Platinum 200GB - 7200 RPM Hard Drive Failure - How to Repair

[civic]

My external hard drive stopped. Worked two days ago, doesn't work today. Dosen't spin, just a click or two and a short musical sound. I have been searching around and have read about replacing PCB's, etc. I would love to recover the data and if swapping out the PCB is the answer, that would be great. From what I have read this is a Maxtor Drive that perhaps has been refurbished. The 1R5 chip is damaged.

So here is the information on the PCB:

Maxtor Calypso III 30159910

Ardent C5-C1
040110200
Aredent-C5C1-875 UK
0244S
508 5943

SMOOTH
L7250E 1.0
B99960244
MAL

Samsung 244
K4S641632F-TC60

So what I have found is that I need a firm ware version and that this is typicall located on a sticker by the IDE. No stickers on this hard drive. Nothing on the front lable other than thethe usual and E-H011-02-3880 which I figure isn't much help.

I know enough jsut to be dangerous while at the same time I am not looking to pay a fortune to have a data recovery compan ytell me that the hard drive has a damaged board.

I thank anyone who can provide me with some insight on how I can revive my hard drive and recover my data.

[harddrivespecialist]

Is there a sticker on a top of the drive or on a PCB itself?

Your board number should be 301599100

[Hexed]

If it is playing a short musical tune, it is because the platters can not spin. It is not because of a bad PCB. Most likely it has a seized bearing. There is a small chance the heads are just stuck to the platters. If you really listen to it, right after the musical tune, you will hear it try to "shake" the heads free. Either way, not really a "do it yourself" job.

[BlackST]

Sorry Hexed, the well known 'maxtor musical sound' means bad news: the preamp is k.o. Or one or more head is physically disconnected. Or there is a bad SA - very unlike, it will knock too. Listen carefully ear on drive and you'll hear the drive spinning. Calypso does not unpark head if not sensing spin, and the combo Ic is unlike to have one section k.o. The 1r5 is an inductor and maybe the top can be 'broken' but, trust me, it is ok. There is a very little chance that the read channel is k.o. so a new pcb will work. You should be very very lucky. If not so, the drive must be serviced by a pro in clean room, need hsa replacement and to be imaged then recover data. Unless one head is blown away and has 'engraved' the surface, so it's game over. A quote should be in range 600/800 eur/$ or some more. Enough said.

[civic]

Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated. So that musical sound is the song of death you say. Not what I was hoping to hear, but the truth hurts sometimes. So here is what happens when I apply power to the hard drive and have my ear to it. When I first power it up it makes a smal buzz or click sound, and this sound repeats every 5 to 10 seconds. This occurrs three or four time and then the Maxtor Muscial Sound plays. This pattern than repeats itself.

So does anyone know where I can get a new PCB, or better yet, can anyone recommend where I can get my hands on a new board? And how do I ensure that I pick up a compatible board? Also, with respect to data recovery centres, can anyone recommend a good data recovery centre in Ontario, Canada would be preferred, but anywhere in the world may have to due.

To answer haddrivespecialist, on the top side of the drive there is the standard sticker, with
"Platinum" at the top followed by 200GB - 7200 RPM
ATA/133 HDD
D33019
E-HO11-02-3880
3.5 series

On the end of the hard drive there is a bar code sticker, with Platinum-133, 7200-8M-F, 200GB on it. Under the barcode the number is 04H00078884

On the underside or the board side of the drive there is not a sticker on the PCB. The board itself is a 301599100 Calypso III, and the chip details are as follows:

Ardent C5-C1
040110200
Aredent-C5C1-875 UK
0244S
508 5943

SMOOTH
L7250E 1.0
B99960244
MAL

Samsung 244
K4S641632F-TC60

So whats my best, logical next step, new board, data recovery????

[civic]

I just came across this on the following site: http://datacent.com/datarecovery/hdd/maxtor

"Maxtors also well-known for their line of "musical" hard drives that have very high rate of bearings failures. When this occurs spindle gets stuck and motor voice coil starts producing nice futuristic cell phone melody or siren:. Data recovery in such case involves removing platters from such musical drive in class 100 clean room environment and transplanting them into matching donor. This complex and precise procedure requires a lot of experience and use of specialized in-house tools to maintain platters in alignment."

[Hexed]

The initial sound you hear is a likely a buzz, not a click. The buzz noise is the motor trying to spin up but it can't due to a physical problem inside the drive. Small chance heads are stuck to platter but more likely (almost definitely) the spindle motor bearing is seized. It is not likely to be a click sound because as BlackST wrote, the heads will not be moved if the motor is not spinning and clicking is the sound of heads moving. I am not saying that there is nothing wrong with your PCB as you have written that there is a physically damaged component on it. I am saying however that getting a new PCB will be a waste of time as it is not the only problem. Data recovery company is your only hope. To prove this, take the drive to a very quiet place, put by your ear and rotate it. If the platters are free to move inside, they will stay still while rotating the outside will drag the heads along the park zone and you will hear a very light, high pitched noise. If the motor is seized, the platters will rotate with the drive chassis, the heads will not be dragged along the park zone and you will hear nothing. I think "we recover data" has a branch lab near you if I'm not mistaken.

[BlackST]

Civic, I have repaired hundreds if not thousands of Maxtor and up today NO bearing seized on calypso... If it was a Seagate, maybe... Only a hardly dropped drive will have bent axis and stuck motor, this is NOT your case.
If you want your data back, send the drive to a pro. If you want an illusion, yes, I can tell you to open the drive and do this or that... it's not my problem, it's your stuff. One thing is sure : I know exactly how this stuff works.

[civic]

Thanks Hexed, thanks BlackST, I appreciate your input and feedback and from the sounds of it the only way to get the data back is by way of a pro. At this point that data that is on the drive does not warrent the fees a pro service provides (I am not saying that a pro service is not valuable I believe they are extremely valuabel, but the data your trying to recover needs to be worth the pro fees, which I feel are fair given the nature of their work). Is there anything I as a non pro can attempt to recover any of the data?

[BlackST]

NO.

[thatdellguy]

Civic, I have repaired hundreds if not thousands of Maxtor and up today NO bearing seized on calypso....

Worked on two Calypso (60GB & 80GB) this year with seized motors. Although it is very uncommon.

[pepe]

Hi,

I had some calypso with seized spindles, but they were mostly dropped. I also experienced that shorted windings in the motor cause the same symptom: nice music.

pepe

[cgallery]

Yep, Maxtor's Name That Tune = Stuck Spindle for me twice in last year.

[BlackST]

Just a moment : stuck spindle = no RPM = head don't move usually.
IF bearing with excessive friction, AND/OR bearing that is operating with considerably noise = vibration = can't reach servo , this is another problem.
The winding functionality can be checked NOT with ohmmeter but with impedance meter / transformer analyzer. Ohmmeter can quickly judge short / open... but will you trust it ?
For me in such case a platter swap is mandatory. Less hassle...

[cgallery]

So what is everyone success rate w/ seized Calypso's? I'm about 50-50, I guess.

[pcimage]

I've seen quite a few Calypso with seized bearings, making the "musical" sounds.

All have been Diamond Max 10, as opposed to the more common 9.

50/50 success is about right, depending on the amount of seizure and whether or not the spindle is bent.

[hddguy]

For me in such case a platter swap is mandatory. Less hassle...

I agree. I have been trying to 'free' the motor lately as opposed to perform platterswap, but success rate is not as good as when platterswaps are performed. If original heads are undammaged, success is more like 75% for me, but if donor heads are used success is a little lower for me.

[BlackST]

I have another opinion : I am working and have a beta solution for make swapped head work perfectly on patient without disturbing user data, but everything will be ready hopefully after this summer.
Anyway what counts is to make the drive able to access data "decently".

[Hexed]

Success for me on these has been 1 or 2 platters, extremely good. 3 platters success has been so bad I don't even quote them any more..

[dick]

I know the thread is a few weeks old now but I just want to add I have a 'musical Calypso' here and it turned out to be the pcb was faulty. Not the motor spindle or sticktion or preamp.
Drive in question is a DiamondMax plus 9 6y120p0
I have 2 near identical drives and one played music and one is working.
When I replaced the pcb on the musical drive it worked 100% and files are recoverable. When I fit the musical drive pcb to the working drive it becomes musical.
How weird is that?