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
April 23rd, 2011, 22:12
Hello All,
I recently experienced 2 hard drive failures due to electrical damage. Lost house power a couple times during the night and the PC power supply fried. I replaced power supply only to find both hard drives fried. I actually smelled them burning during power up. After this both hard drives would not power up, wouldn't even make a sound. I was able to get 1 hard drive working by replacing PCB board and swapping bios chip. This particular drive showed no visible signs of damage. However the other hard drive's PCB motor IC chip was burned. I also replaced the PCB and swapped bios but was not as lucky. The drive now makes a intermittent, repititious buzzing noise e.g. buzz, buzz, buzz, quiet, buzz, buzz, buzz, quiet, etc. Anyway I was hoping someone out there has some suggestions on what to do next. Is there something I'm missing or am I out of luck? Any ideas or suggestions are much appreciated. Almost forgot drive is a Western Digital 200gb model WD2000BB. I also attached photo of original PCB so you can see what burned (bios chip is removed).
Thank You,
Troy
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April 23rd, 2011, 22:44
Preamp is surely burned, too. It's not D.I.Y.
April 23rd, 2011, 23:03
yep, I second that!
April 25th, 2011, 5:47
The buzzing sounds like a stiction fault.
April 25th, 2011, 9:34
fzabkar wrote:The buzzing sounds like a stiction fault.
I've never seen stiction on a WD 3.5" drive. I have seen bad motors and bearings.
Even if it were "stiction", if you open the drive you will ruin the head stack alignment. I don't recommend that you inspect the interior.
April 25th, 2011, 11:44
1 in 10'000 is stiction...
April 25th, 2011, 18:21
jono-ats wrote:fzabkar wrote:The buzzing sounds like a stiction fault.
I've never seen stiction on a WD 3.5" drive. I have seen bad motors and bearings.
Even if it were "stiction", if you open the drive you will ruin the head stack alignment. I don't recommend that you inspect the interior.
I fail to see how a bad bearing could be the result of a power outage. As for a motor problem, the OP could measure the resistances of the windings with a digital multimeter.
Cen-Tech 90899 7 Function Digital Multimeter (US$5):
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function ... 90899.htmlCen-Tech 90899 7 Function Digital Multimeter User Manual:
http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manual ... /90899.pdf
April 25th, 2011, 19:34
fzabkar wrote:The buzzing sounds like a stiction fault.
If this was the horse races

, I would bet against this diagnosis.
April 26th, 2011, 0:58
fzabkar wrote:I fail to see how a bad bearing could be the result of a power outage. As for a motor problem, the OP could measure the resistances of the windings with a digital multimeter.
I was referring to the buzzing sound that the drive made and the fact that it didn't spin up. A missing phase on the motor could cause that -- no big surprise when you look at the motor IC on the fellow's PCB. I certainly wasn't trying to convey the idea that an electrical problem would cause a bearing problem. Not sure how you concluded that . . .
Although it is true that a multimeter could diagnose shorted or open motor windings, I'm afraid that this particular drive is way beyond help with a VOM. Sure, it would be nice to "know" if the motor is functional, but if the preamp is shot (like I am about 90% sure that it is) then it's a moot point. In any event, it's not a DIY recovery, so why do you propose that the person should expend time and resources on it, if the outcome is almost certain to be unfruitful? I'm just trying to understand your thought process. Thank you.
April 26th, 2011, 1:53
Never seen broken motors that are ok with 'multimeter' that don't move or fry pcbs?
Happens...
I Never trust multimeters, especially below 1000 dollar
May 3rd, 2011, 21:46
BlackST wrote:I Never trust multimeters, especially below 1000 dollar

So true, Although i am a fan of most fluke products
May 4th, 2011, 7:58
I, too, would guess that the preamp is 99.9% fried as well.
May 4th, 2011, 8:17
Troy
why don't you upload the recording of the sound made by the drive to stop the speculations
I agree with others here it looks like a stiction issue and not worth a try
May 6th, 2011, 5:32
BlackST wrote:Never seen broken motors that are ok with 'multimeter' that don't move or fry pcbs?
Happens...
I Never trust multimeters, especially below 1000 dollar :mrgreen:
As you can see in this thread, a cheap multimeter is perfectly OK:
samsung-hdd-hd753lj-dead-t15374.htmlIn fact, this is all you really need:
Cen-Tech 90899 7 Function Digital Multimeter (US$5):
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function ... 90899.html:mrgreen:
May 6th, 2011, 6:46
No, I have something "just a little bit" better

. Anyway the thread is now about 2 weeks older so maybe either the drive was not repaired or already repaired or simply the owner didn't proceed.
November 4th, 2011, 11:56
Just skimming through some old topics and came across this thread. Out of curiosity, what would you do in a case like this? I mean yes in most cases like the heads are toast, but if there is also damage to the motor, it seems like a platter swap would be necessary. Am I right?
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