Help recovering data from Toshiba 320g External HDDR320EO3X

[Technopimp]

Hello all...newbie here. Trying to recover data from my Toshiba 320g External HDDR320EO3X

http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?pid=23134

The drive has no power supply, it's powered from the usb connection. When I connect to my laptop, all I hear is light humming & is not detected. Do you guru's think I can recover the data from this drive?

Is this universal adapter a good option? http://www.amazon.com/NewerTech-USB-Universal-Drive-Adapter/dp/B00506QPDU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322525485&sr=8-1

I'd love to be able to connect this puppy & transfer files to either another external drive or my laptop.

Please advise...thanks so much!

[northwind]

Does the drive spin up? Problem could be stiction.
Do you hear / sense drive spin up and vibrate when connected to usb, or just a buzz/hum/fast ticking without spinning?

[Technopimp]

Sometimes I hear spin up then stop, spin up then stop...then other times I hear only light humming. I've noticed in the past that if I re-position the drive or re-connect the USB cable, it did spin up & was recognized but now it's mostly the humming, faint humming, real actually have put your ear up to the drive to hear it.

[microsoftengineer]

Send it to Professional this is not DIY case if Data is important if not Play but u cant recover it...........

[Technopimp]

New discovery! I attached another board from another external drive & now I have spin, it's continuously spinning now but not being recognized in my computer. Is this a good sign? It's spinning as I type.

[Technopimp]

Trying to run some recovery apps with the drive connected to the power source (what connects to the pins) of another ext drive...I hear constant spinning but apps nor my computer is seeing the drive. Suggestions? Should I be using the source of another drive? Would an adapter help me? Maybe a new pcb board?

[Technopimp]

Anyone?

[northwind]

The reason your pc is not seeing the drive is because the old pcb contains unique information that need to be transferred to the new pcb.

If your pcb does not have external rom (and i bet it doesn't) then it's not DIY.

Contact member jono-ats, he can do this for you, and he comes highly suggested.

[Vulcan]

@Technopimp:

Unfortunately most of your descriptions are vague / ambiguous / incomplete which makes accurate remote diagnosis difficult or impossible IMHO. It also seems that you don't have an electronics background, so I doubt that you will fix this yourself anyway, even if my guess below is correct.

Having said that, and if you are accepting the risks of DIY repair attempts, there was one part of your story which might be pointing towards a possible area for further investigation:

Sometimes I hear spin up then stop, spin up then stop...then other times I hear only light humming. I've noticed in the past that if I re-position the drive or re-connect the USB cable, it did spin up & was recognized but now it's mostly the humming, faint humming, real actually have put your ear up to the drive to hear it. [my emphasis]

That specific empasised section above, plus your later info that the drive is spinning OK with a different PCB, suggests to me that investigating the USB connector and its soldering on the original board, would be a good thing for an electronics engineer to do. Due to the use of surface-mount connectors, and frequent mechanical stress of plug/unplug cycles, the soldering on these USB connectors is a weak point on modern disk drive designs.

If you can attach close-up photos of that original USB connector (from a few different angles, showing the soldered joints between that connector and the PCB), then readers here might spot something obvious - but even if there is a problem in that area, it can be difficult to see without a microscope and without having the board in an engineer's hands. Again, this is an area where remote diagnosis is limited, so even if no problem is seen on a photo, that does not prove that no problem exists.

You should use ESD (anti-static) precautions when handing the drive and PCB. Potential damage caused by ESD is one of the risks you take when attempting "DIY" fixes.

Based on the comments you've supplied, I am not guaranteeing that further investigation in that area will be successful, but that is where I would start (although I'm an electronics engineer).

I completely agree with the recommendation by northwind for a good pro, if the data is important to you

[fzabkar]

I agree with Vulcan that it does sound like a physical problem with the micro-USB connector. Such problems are frequently reported at WD's forums, so I guess they may afflict other makes as well. Often the solution is as simple as reflowing the solder to the connector pins. That's something that your local TV/AV repair shop could do.

Could we see some photos of the internals?

[Technopimp]

I've attached a pic of the HD out of the casing as well as a video of what it's actually doing. I've managed to break off the usb connector from the original mini board that was connected to the pins so here I'm using a usb connection from another drive. Hopefully the pic & video will help in getting better suggestions. Thanks.

Pic:



Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ7aFQa4jbo

[Technopimp]

I tried a universal adapter to no avail...I still hear spinup but nothing happening...my next option is to try replacing the pcb board...can someone point me to a compatible pcb board?

[labtech]

New discovery! I attached another board from another external drive & now I have spin, it's continuously spinning now but not being recognized in my computer. Is this a good sign? It's spinning as I type.

What are the specs of the above mentioned board?

[Technopimp]

New discovery! I attached another board from another external drive & now I have spin, it's continuously spinning now but not being recognized in my computer. Is this a good sign? It's spinning as I type.

What are the specs of the above mentioned board?

I used the word "board" but it was actually the small board attached to the pins on the spine of the HD. I had another external drive that has a detachable usb connection at the pins so I un-attached the usb connector portion from IT & used it on the bad HD for a power source. Now I'm looking to replace the actual pcb board of the bad HD.

[Technopimp]

Anyone? Looking for a pcb board for a Toshiba 320g External HDDR320E

Thanks

[freakzy]

Hi, try here : hard-drive-market-f15.html

[fzabkar]

I tried a universal adapter to no avail...I still hear spinup but nothing happening...my next option is to try replacing the pcb board...can someone point me to a compatible pcb board?

If the drive is spinning up, then the drive's PCB is usually OK. In such cases the problem is most often an internal one.

That said, when you say that "nothing is happening", what exactly do you mean?

Can you see the external drive in Device Manager? Disk Management?

Can you see it with HDD Sentinel or HDDScan?
http://www.hdsentinel.com/
http://hddscan.com/

Can you see the enclosure with Microsoft's UVCView?
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_ID ... ew.x86.exe

[Technopimp]

I tried a universal adapter to no avail...I still hear spinup but nothing happening...my next option is to try replacing the pcb board...can someone point me to a compatible pcb board?

If the drive is spinning up, then the drive's PCB is usually OK. In such cases the problem is most often an internal one.

That said, when you say that "nothing is happening", what exactly do you mean?

Can you see the external drive in Device Manager? Disk Management?

Can you see it with HDD Sentinel or HDDScan?
http://www.hdsentinel.com/
http://hddscan.com/

Can you see the enclosure with Microsoft's UVCView?
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_ID ... ew.x86.exe

No I cannot see the drive in disk mgmt. Nor can I see the drive with any of the tools that you posted (thanks). When I say "nothing is happening" I mean I cannot access the drive nor see it. I've got it connected now & it sounds like it's doing morse code. Any other suggestions?

[twbb]

Try to decode the morse code. Maybe the drive is telling you something.

[Technopimp]

Try to decode the morse code. Maybe the drive is telling you something.