Samsung 2.5 in 500gb Freecom XXS failed

[irishwasa]

Hi,

I have a Freecom XXS portable hdd - basically a Samsung 500gb usb only drive in a rubber case. It stopped working for no obvious reason - not spinning up and nothing observable. I have done a bit of reading up which indicated a slim chance of a pcb swap working, so I obtained another drive the same. I checked the new drive works (fine) and then tried swapping the new pcb into the old drive. It now spins up and sounds normal, but it is not seen by Windows. Any suggestions on what my options are from here.
There is approx 250gb of data on it in total, most of it is 'nice to have' rather than 'desperate to recover'.

Thanks, Don.

[dmarques]

Hi,

That is happening because there are some specific info written on the patient PCB, that is not compatible with the donor PCB.

[irishwasa]

Hi, I did presume it was something along those lines, but whereas I see that some drives have a chip that can be swapped - I don't see anything removable on this one. But the question is 'what can I do now?' Is there anything else I can do on a diy basis, or is there any recommendations on who I could get to look at it? Any idea of the likely cost?
Thanks, Don

[fzabkar]

Upload a detailed photo of the PCB. If it's possible, I'll help you. It may even be as simple as a fuse.

[irishwasa]

Hope these are clear enough - wasn't sure what size to upload!!
Don.

[fzabkar]

Unfortunately the flash memory is internal to the Marvell 88i8823-TFJ2 MCU. This means that you will need professional data recovery services to transfer these data to the donor PCB. Alternatively you could try to narrow down the fault on your board.

The first thing to check is cable continuity at the USB socket. To this end I would plug in your USB cable and use a multimeter to test for continuity between the larger 4-pin host end of the cable, and the drive's 5-pin connection points on the PCB. A cheap multimeter should cost US$10.

Here are the USB pinouts:
http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml

If the socket verifies OK, then power up the board on its own and measure the voltages at the "4" ends of each of the two 4R7 coils near the spindle motor connector. I expect that you should find +2.5V (Vio) and +1.2V (Vcore). There is also a 2R2 coil near the USB socket. Measure the voltage at its inboard (left) end.

There is a white device below the USB socket. Unfortunately I don't recognise it.

References:

K4H641638N-LCCC, Samsung, 64Mbits DDR SDDRAM, 4M x 16, 2.5V:
http://www.samsung.com/global/system/bu ... _rev10.pdf

AT93C46D, 1Kbit, 3-Wire Bus Serial Automotive EEPROM, 2.5V, marking 46D1:
http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod ... oc8674.pdf

JM20239, JMicron, USB-SATA bridge, VID / PID = 152d / 2329:
Application circuit:
http://www.hxwtek.com/upload/jm20329_st ... 20open.pdf

[irishwasa]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to give so much assistance. I belled out the usb cable to 5 pins - no probs. Having bought a new drive the same was handy as I could make direct comparisons. Both boards have 5v arriving at the 5 pins. The white unidentified bit is a blue led that lights up for a few seconds when power is put on and then flashes with data transfer or error codes. It was on for the new board but not the old.
I followed the 5v and the new board had it at the left pin of the device above the 2R2 in the upper picture whereas the old board did not. I tried belling out all the nearby devices on both cards and testing where continuity was up to on the 5v. I kept measuring back at the left pin and the readings changed. I powered up the old board to measure the voltage again and the blue light came on! Worked again second time, so I mounted the board back on the drive. Up and running and frantically backing up!
I presume it was just a bad connection somewhere. I will copy the data off it and bin it!
Again, thanks for the help, Don.

[irishwasa]

Acually, having looked at this thread:
Samsung s2 portable 500gb dead?
I see people are using vice grips in the area of this chip and seeing the drive come back to life - maybe it is a common fault?
Cheers, Don.

[fzabkar]

A lot of people are reporting connection problems at WD's forums. There are also many reports of USB sockets breaking away from the PCB.

Congratulations, BTW.

[lordlogicus]

irishwasa

Hi Irishwasa,

Would you like to tell me what's the Freecom number of HHD??
Ex. 33783, 31454,....

Desperately need to know which number uses this kind of PCB.

Thanks a lot

[floss]

Hello Brother:

My freecom hard disk is the same with you.
One day it does not wrok. No reaction after plug into the PC.
So i search in the Internet. Then find your web.
But The mini USB pins are all right.So i had to find another way to repaire my baby Hard disk.
It cost me 100 doller.
But at last I repaired it by myself.

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[fzabkar]

Nice work, floss.

I should add that I'm not a data recovery professional, so I can't be sure whether this is one those models that has unique information on the PCB. In any case, some DR pros say Samsung boards can be swapped without modification, while others say that a ROM transfer is necessary. I have seen some end users report that they needed to transfer the ROM, but this may be due to a poor match.

Anyway, congratulations.

[LC22]

Where I could get one of these PCB?! My burned yesterday, so I need to get one to replace the spoiled!! Thanks!!

[dharmacamera]

Same for me freecom xxs 500gb died, no lights, no turning. Opened it up, read these pages, surpised to find Samsung inside. Just bought on pixmania "same" model to attempt switch of board, BUT board is different for same model number, even one screw is in different placing. DOES NOT WORK. no turn but blue light flashes rhythmically, not like it is booting. Really pissed, €80 extra for a board I don't even like. Any one out there got anything useful to say please. Apart from "Get over it!"

[dharmacamera]

Data recovery is not an option as I have all my bank and business dealing and details for my and my patners eyes only, as well as private info on clients. Dumb but trying not to be.

[harddrivespecialist]

Data recovery is not an option as I have all my bank and business dealing and details for my and my patners eyes only, as well as private info on clients. Dumb but trying not to be.

I am afraid Data Recovery company is only reasonable option you have left.
DR companies don't have time going thru every drive and look for your business data.

[einstein9]

Data recovery is not an option as I have all my bank and business dealing and details for my and my patners eyes only, as well as private info on clients. Dumb but trying not to be.

I am afraid Data Recovery company is only reasonable option you have left.
DR companies don't have time going thru every drive and look for your business data.

Agree

As i used to tell all of my clients:

Either MY WAY.. OR THE HIGHWAY...

[bpoelen]

The usb-connector is tided fitting, so you need a bit force to connect.
in my case the voltage regulator was not right connected(soldered) on the pcb, so it came lose.
I re-solderer it, so I was able to take the data that was on it.

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