Samsung ST2014N Datarecovery

[PimpKittah]

Im trying to recover a s-load of data from a ST2014N HDD 3.5"

The defective HDD acts as following
Spins up Clicks couple of time and Spins down. no further operation (no detection using windows or dos using MHDD with USB dongle on laptop)

Have only tried using USB dongle but will try direct BIOS interaction tomorrow on another computer.

ive bought a new disc of the same modell and tried swapping the Logic boards but strangely both HDDs then get the same Error (when i swap the boards) I therefore assume the logic board is functional ? but some incompatiblity issues occur?

Will data be garbabled if i would OPEN the HDD's and Swap essential HDD parts (motor, axel or even DISCs)?
Yes i know that a "clean room" is recommended if im gonna open up the HDD. and discs require micro precision alignment.

ive managed to do one datarecovery using this method on a HDD where the spindle motor was busted. but since the problems arent the same im not sure its gonna work ?

Or should i try to Download the firmware from the "old" HDD and upload it to the "new" and then swap the logic board? (as i understand the firmware aint located on the Logic board itself??? and if so why doesnt the logic board swap work ?!?)

any advise or words of knowledge would be welcome.

[beto]

Some times on Samsung , the knocking sound would be by a preamplifier damaged, or MHA Damaged, but another times, SA problems, the best would be know the terminal log to know whats happening on that case

Best Regards

[pepe]

Hi,

as long as the spindle spins normally, NEVER think of touching the screws of the disks, this would pile up some more problems as u mentined.
I agree that a terminal log would be helpful.

pepe

[BlackST]

Maybe not head stack. I have a proprietary solution for Samsung but need the drive. Ask a pro.

[N.C.]

Im trying to recover a s-load of data from a ST2014N HDD 3.5"

The defective HDD acts as following
Spins up Clicks couple of time and Spins down. no further operation (no detection using windows or dos using MHDD with USB dongle on laptop)

Have only tried using USB dongle but will try direct BIOS interaction tomorrow on another computer.

ive bought a new disc of the same modell and tried swapping the Logic boards but strangely both HDDs then get the same Error (when i swap the boards) I therefore assume the logic board is functional ? but some incompatiblity issues occur?

Will data be garbabled if i would OPEN the HDD's and Swap essential HDD parts (motor, axel or even DISCs)?
Yes i know that a "clean room" is recommended if im gonna open up the HDD. and discs require micro precision alignment.

ive managed to do one datarecovery using this method on a HDD where the spindle motor was busted. but since the problems arent the same im not sure its gonna work ?

Or should i try to Download the firmware from the "old" HDD and upload it to the "new" and then swap the logic board? (as i understand the firmware aint located on the Logic board itself??? and if so why doesnt the logic board swap work ?!?)

any advise or words of knowledge would be welcome.

Hello,

Samsung pcb have a "loader" code with version number.
And the platters have the firmware.
If the loader is incompatible with firmware can cause what you described.
If you open the drive, do a bigger mistake!

The terminal log can be helpful, but if you have a broken head, playing with the terminal can be risky too!

Ask a pro, i suggest.

Regards,
Janos

[BlackST]

@NC , Samsungs DO NOT have "LOADERS" they are not MAXTOR. They have CODE and on the disk there are overlays and adaptives. Terminal if used only for reading is absolutely safe. There are many ways to check if preamp/head are working properly.
You cannot start samsung SP with any "LOADER" like maxtor, maybe you can jump start the drive in some case.

[BlackST]

BTW how can you "copy" the FW from another drive ? you mean MC or the main code ? Good luck !!!!

[N.C.]

@NC , Samsungs DO NOT have "LOADERS" they are not MAXTOR. They have CODE and on the disk there are overlays and adaptives. Terminal if used only for reading is absolutely safe. There are many ways to check if preamp/head are working properly.
You cannot start samsung SP with any "LOADER" like maxtor, maybe you can jump start the drive in some case.

The name of the components of working code can be different.

The code on the pcb emulates the terminal, spin up the motor, do some sanity checks, and load the additional code from the platters.
Thats why i call this code as "loader".

BTW if the user play to read the terminal, the hdd spins up, and if one of the heads are crashed, can be scratch the media!
Am i right?
Thats why i sad, dangerous.

Regards,
Janos

[PimpKittah]

BTW how can you "copy" the FW from another drive ? you mean MC or the main code ? Good luck !!!!

Well since i dont know much about HDD's but i do know much about hardware in general i persumed that the HDD had some sort of "code" to tell it how to operate AKA "firmware" even if this is located on the discs themself instead of the logicboard it still exist but im trying to figure out how to download it etc.. found a official tool for it but i need to find another computer since i only have a laptop myself (hard to find a IDE slave)

And you all talk about terminal log??
MHDD ??

or is it some form of RS232 hookup ?

[BlackST]

I give up...

[PimpKittah]

Ive connected the disc and trying to detect / read any type of data from it but the disc doesnt detect in bios and MHDD doesnt detect it either even when i try /DISABLEBIOS option.

and oh the disc is SP2014N not ST2014N typo :S

burned preamp ? or garbled SA ?

[PimpKittah]

Ive tried Hotplugging the disc using the orginal Logicboard and a swapped logicboard that works the standard board doesnt detect while the replacement board shows up as BUSY all the time.

ive been researching some about a hot logicboard swap using a working hd's firmware and then putting the disc in Standby to hotswap the plugged in logicboard with the broken disc does MHDD support standby mode ? or by standby do they simply mean STOP ?