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Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
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Which one could use as a SMAJ5.0A?

January 28th, 2011, 14:46

Hello guys,

I miss connected the 5V and 12V of the power cable, and burned a 5V TVS diode, which is quite common in this forum BTW.
The victim is a WD6401AALS. From older post, I find that I need a ST MICROELECTRONICS "5V TVS diode with an SMAJ5.0A" to replace the original one. I have some dead hdds in hand, and want to ask, if i can get a "SMAJ5.0A" equivalent from these old dead hdds.
I know that I can order this diode from Internet, but the shipping fee is just quite high. I also don't know if I can buy it from local store.
So, could u guys plz help me to figure out which diode in these board is equivalent to "SMAJ5.0A", or has similar functions that can act as a "SMAJ5.0A"? Any comments are welcome.

Thank you.

Victim2046

Here are the photos of the donors.


Here is the victim.
P1050514_1.jpg
Victim WD6401AALS

Re: Which one could use as a SMAJ5.0A?

January 28th, 2011, 14:58

Try removing TVS D3 located on the bottom left of the board. If that does not work remove D4 as well. If it still fails then most likely you have other issues with the board then that.

Re: Which one could use as a SMAJ5.0A?

January 28th, 2011, 17:47

I can't see a TVS diode on any of your old boards. :-(

Re: Which one could use as a SMAJ5.0A?

January 29th, 2011, 1:01

Cleanroom wrote:Try removing TVS D3 located on the bottom left of the board. If that does not work remove D4 as well. If it still fails then most likely you have other issues with the board then that.


I knew that after reading some earlier posts, this method is quick but dirty. I will lost the over-voltage protection and this is no good.
Thx for your reply anyway. :wink:


fzabkar wrote:I can't see a TVS diode on any of your old boards. :-(

Neither can I. :cry:
Hey, is the 12V TVS diode is a "SMAJ12A" or "SMBJ12A"?
SMAJXXA is 400W, and SMBJXXA is 600W, am I right?
I don't think it's damaged, but i will buy some spare parts in case of it really failed.
Thank you! :wink:

Re: Which one could use as a SMAJ5.0A?

January 29th, 2011, 2:53

Victim2046 wrote:Hey, is the 12V TVS diode is a "SMAJ12A" or "SMBJ12A"?
SMAJXXA is 400W, and SMBJXXA is 600W, am I right?

Yes, that's right. FYI, SMCJxxA are 1500W parts.

BTW, the "A" suffix denotes unidirectional, "CA" denotes bidirectional.

Re: Which one could use as a SMAJ5.0A?

February 1st, 2011, 8:14

HDD survived after changing the 5V TVS diode.
(from farnell (element14 in Asia/Pacific), ordered at Sunday night and collected at Tuesday afternoon.)

Thank you fzabkar and Cleanroom. :D
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