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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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wd800jb replacement

October 25th, 2012, 11:21

I have a WD800JB-00CRA1 that is not anymore visible in the bios.
I tried a pcb from an WD600BB-00CAA1 and the drive became visible.

Can I use this pcb with some adjustments?

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 25th, 2012, 15:31

What are the PCB numbers for the original and donor PCBs?

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 25th, 2012, 17:56

pcb number from 80gb: 2061-001102-300B
pcb number from 60gb: 0000-001092-300J

When I use the 60gb pcb on the 80gb disk i can see the directory structure (in TestDisk), but not the files in the directory's.
A scan (with TestDisk) results in bad sector reading.

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 25th, 2012, 18:06

Interesting that the folders are seen with donor board. It seems the ROM adaptives are close enough that it's reading. I think the problem now is bad sectors and partition corruption. The best step is to make a complete image of the drive, then scan that image using R-Studio, or similar data recovery software. For imaging the drive, you may want to try something like ddrescue.

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 25th, 2012, 18:37

Thank you very much for your answers!


But is it still better to find a pcb from a similar disk (with similar pcb-numers?)?
Or can I use this pcb to salvage data?

(bcometa: i like to send you a pm, but i can't send because to less posts.
If you send me a pm, maybe I can reply on that?)
Last edited by berend on October 25th, 2012, 18:48, edited 1 time in total.

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 25th, 2012, 18:48

I believe since even if just some of the data on the drive can be read, the PCB must be okay. I *think* (and may be wrong), that if the ROM wasn't compatible enough, NO user data would be accessible.

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 25th, 2012, 18:54

The problem occurred when I connected the drive to an ide-usb-adapter, minutes before it was just running Win + programs fine (as far as I know).
Is it possible that bad sectors and partition corruption is an effect of, for example, high current?
With the problem-pcb from the 80gb the drive was not spinning right, it was spinning on-off on-off with some sounds from the heads.

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 25th, 2012, 19:02

I think it's more likely the ide-usb-adapter messed up the original PCB and perhaps that messed up the partition. The on-off spinning could be symptoms of a "bad pcb." Try the full data recovery scan with some different software tools after imaging the drive.

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 25th, 2012, 19:09

Ok, thank you!

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 29th, 2012, 6:52

bcometa wrote:Interesting that the folders are seen with donor board. It seems the ROM adaptives are close enough that it's reading. I think the problem now is bad sectors and partition corruption. The best step is to make a complete image of the drive, then scan that image using R-Studio, or similar data recovery software. For imaging the drive, you may want to try something like ddrescue.


There are NOT ROM adaptives for this model! :D
You should know that...

Re: wd800jb replacement

October 31st, 2012, 1:00

bcometa wrote:Interesting that the folders are seen with donor board. It seems the ROM adaptives are close enough that it's reading.

According to donordrives.com, a chip swap or firmware adaptation service may be required, for whatever reason:

http://www.donordrives.com/western-digi ... e-pcb.html

Is this an error? :?
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