Replacing logic board - safe for on-disk data?

[dagb]

Hi.

I have a Seagate ST3200822AS (p/n: 9w2854-301) which is dying. Seatools finds no other fault with the drive than it stops responding after a while. I can hear no 'bad' sounds from the drive. When it is operating, reading noises appear normal for a while. Then it stops responding. (Seatools was able to talk to the drive for 30 minutes with a cold drive.) The disk keeps spinning. I assume some issue on the logic board. Keeping the drive running in 15 degC ambient air does not change the behaviour.

I have tried to source a 100% identical drive locally, but without luck so far.
Having a drive shipped to me from $ABROAD for $LOTOFMONEY isn't my primary option yet.

Now I wonder how much damage I may do if I try to use the logic board from my other ST3200822AS, which has p/n: 9w2854-001. The firmwareversion is the same, but site and config code differs.

If the worst that can happen is that it doesn't work, that's ok. But I do want to recover the data on the drive, one way or another.

Any insight is much appreciated.

Dag B

[hddguy]

If your disk runs for about 30 minutes, surely it would make more sense to try recover your data to a suitable data disk?

Personally, even if the donor PCB does work, I am not sure that this will solve your problem. If data is important, and you cannot transfer data yourself, I would recomend you get a accurate diagnostic and recovery with a professional outfit.

[jauh]

Can you not dd the drive with bs=8m?

[dagb]

Seatools reported it as accessible for 30 minutes the last time. It may have been a very long timeout.
I am not sure I will bet on that. I tried using dd yesterday, and it was very, very slow.

I have made one more observation: on starting the drive, it will spin up and make noises as if data is accessed. (or written to.) The drive is connected to a linux machine which does not automount anything.
On connecting the drive, the kernel will of course probe the drive, but that is that, and this is not it.
The other drive appears to do the same thing, but way, way faster.
This access appears to be something periodic. What is it?

In any case, what do you mean by:
"even if the donor PCB does work, I am not sure that this will solve your problem"? Do you suspect the problem to be outside the logic board? If it was, I'd expect the logic board to report *something* back to the host? No?

Note:
I'll make no assumption about understanding all possible failuremodes of a harddrive, and a pro recovery job is definitely something on my list. But as long as I can do something with reasonable chance of success without damaging the data, I'd like to explore those options.

[jauh]

dd's default block size is 512, which is rather stupid given your disk has 8 meg buffer. If you can get to the data, then either dd or dd_rescue (not ddrescue) have a good shot at getting the data back...

[thatdellguy]

That's the problem these days. Someone tries to recover a failing hd by using various methods on the Internet (freezer, double boiling, new heads, platter transplant, new pcb, spinrite, chkdsk, ect...) and it causes even more damage. Then when they send it in, it's unrecoverable.

[drc]

At this point you don't know enough to have any reason to try a new PCB, I'd say. Can you access the drive with something like MHDD?

[dagb]

As the failure mode simply is 'disk no longer responds', I find it likely that the logic board is involved somehow. That is, after all, what the host controller is talking to.

No idea if motor/heads are able to oversubscribe local power to the point that the logic keels over and dies.

I will try MHDD as well.

[felibo]

Hey,

If u can recover the data in bits and pieces then pls do that before u loose everything.

Good Luck!!!

[drc]

As the failure mode simply is 'disk no longer responds', I find it likely that the logic board is involved somehow. That is, after all, what the host controller is talking to.

No idea if motor/heads are able to oversubscribe local power to the point that the logic keels over and dies.

I will try MHDD as well.

Logical or not, you're just stabbing in the dark...

[dagb]

As the failure mode simply is 'disk no longer responds', I find it likely that the logic board is involved somehow. That is, after all, what the host controller is talking to.

No idea if motor/heads are able to oversubscribe local power to the point that the logic keels over and dies.

I will try MHDD as well.

Logical or not, you're just stabbing in the dark...

And your torch remains unlit.
Screw this. The drive is being shipped today.

[drc]

Have fun, dude. I gave you something to try and you did not. If you have money to waste then you should save your time and just send the drive to a pro.