Samsung Laptop HDD MP0804H 80 GB, data recovery

[BlackST]

i thought maybe there are some more links you could point me to - why are you so stubborn in giving help for free? i just cant afford to pay such amounts of money, the data was mainly studyfiles (outdated), pictures (would be nice to have them back), music (most of it regained anyway) and some php files i wrote, which would be nice to have back, since i dont want to rewrite them - BUT, theres no "valuable" stuff on there. i just want to try my luck and maybe get some insight into hdd repairing.

Then go on experimenting by yourself and learning what you can and getting all the insights possible for free. Simple, isn't it ?

[DR seagate]

Vulcan?
if you read my question. so you should write the solution about the question you should not advice me i know, what i should do, this is the forum to solve problems of each other

[Vulcan]

@DR seagate:

You are very welcome for my help. I am glad you took my advice and posted a new thread (link below), so now there is a greater chance of other readers seeing your question, instead of it being buried in this unrelated thread:

fujitsu-model-mhz2320bh-password-t20757.html

Good luck!

[lilqi]

i thought maybe there are some more links you could point me to - why are you so stubborn in giving help for free? i just cant afford to pay such amounts of money, the data was mainly studyfiles (outdated), pictures (would be nice to have them back), music (most of it regained anyway) and some php files i wrote, which would be nice to have back, since i dont want to rewrite them - BUT, theres no "valuable" stuff on there. i just want to try my luck and maybe get some insight into hdd repairing.

Then go on experimenting by yourself and learning what you can and getting all the insights possible for free. Simple, isn't it ?

yes and no -.-

why do you think did i post this issue here on hddgurus? to get approval for doing a DIY repair? i think not sir.

as i said earlier, i just wanted to ask the fine ppl here, who are way more into recovery of harddisks than i am, if they (MAYBE) have a link or two for documented repairattempts, so that im not completeley in the dark when trying this myself -.-

ty

[Vulcan]

i just wanted to ask the fine ppl here, who are way more into recovery of harddisks than i am, if they (MAYBE) have a link or two for documented repairattempts, so that im not completeley in the dark when trying this myself -.-

Unfortunately you have not been able to provide enough detail about the problem with this disk, for anyone to be able to provide what you expect - IMHO your expectations are unrealistic, unfortunately.

the drive was diagnosed by a professional recovery firm and the diagnosed defects were hda unit and firmware damage

That is nowhere near enough detail to know what you should do as DIY. For example, the varieties of different "firmware damage" are near infinite, and the specific damage needs to be correctly diagnosed and resolved.

So although the company who reported that diagnosis to you may know much more than they told you, for everyone else here, you are now asking for a remote diagnosis - but you are not able to give any new information, as you don't have the necessary $10k tool to do so.

The medical equivalent is that the drive has had an MRI scan by doctors at one company, but they have kept that information, and given you just a general reply, as is normal from a free diagnosis. You are now asking other doctors, who have not seen the patient (drive) and have not seen the result of that MRI scan, to diagnose what injuries the patient has, and all you can say (since you don't have an MRI machine yourself) is that the patient is in pain (i.e. the drive does not ID), which can have many many possible causes, all with different treatments.

I don't expect you to like this news, but I hope this helps to explain why you are not getting the answers you hoped for. Sorry you are disappointed, but IMHO you are now expecting too much for the level of detail you are able to provide. Good luck!

[BlackST]

... and you can't provide any other detail without the 10'000s EUR tooling and know how required.

[Vulcan]

Agreed BlackST - you can see that I mentioned the $10k tool.

[lilqi]

thats why i asked in my very first posting the following question:

this is my first posting here, so plz let me know what data i can provide u with additionally to clarify the drives status or what i could possibly do to recover any data at all.

so, you could have told me earlier and more clearly (+ more friendly maybe ), that my diagnosis results dont suffice...

For example, the varieties of different "firmware damage" are near infinite, and the specific damage needs to be correctly diagnosed and resolved.

isnt it unnecessary which specific damage was done to the firmware, if i replace the WHOLE pcb?

im asking again: are there any good (and preferrably pictured) documentations for replacing hdd pcbs and/or platters?

what i want to do is clear now, im just asking for some advice on that matter. pretty please?

edit: sth like this here for example: http://hddguru.com/articles/2006.02.17- ... k-Q-and-A/

[Vulcan]

For example, the varieties of different "firmware damage" are near infinite, and the specific damage needs to be correctly diagnosed and resolved.

isnt it unnecessary which specific damage was done to the firmware, if i replace the WHOLE pcb?

Wrong The relevant firmware doesn't exist on the PCB, so changing the PCB does not help, and actually introduces further compatibility problems.

The firmware being mentioned in the diagnosis you received, is on the disk platters and typically consists of "modules" (some are data, some are executable code). Without specialist software tools ($$$) and knowledge (priceless!), you can't diagnose and fix firmware problems. This level of diagnosis also can't be given remotely, as you don't have the tools (already mentioned) to supply the information needed for diagnosis.

You might find these examples of threads from the FAQ section on this board, to be useful for further info about these points:

diy-what-the-big-deal-t12671.html
newbie-info-from-and-for-newbies-about-firmware-etc-t6562.html

[Vulcan]

so, you could have told me earlier and more clearly (+ more friendly maybe ), that my diagnosis results dont suffice...

I guessed that you would not like the news, but criticising people here won't help you to get more advice, will it? You were previously told by others that remote diagnosis attempts were leading to dead ends, due to lack of info that you were providing - you just didn't seem to understand / accept it at that time.

i think a pcb replacement with an equal drive could fix this

If you really want to replace the PCB, and if you accept the risks that you might make the situation even worse, then if anyone here will still answer your questions after your criticisms, you can ask for specific advice about that. Some searching on the forum may give you basic info, as advice has been given to other Samsung owners in the past.

[lilqi]

You might find these examples of threads from the FAQ section on this board, to be useful for further info about these points:

diy-what-the-big-deal-t12671.html
newbie-info-from-and-for-newbies-about-firmware-etc-t6562.html

see? didnt know those infos about firmware/SA/modules, these are exactly the types of things i wanted to know, thank you

also, the "diy whats the big deal" thread helped me understand some of the answers i was getting here AND, it led me to some of the difficulties involving DIY repair, i didnt know about. so: thanks again

I guessed that you would not like the news, but criticising people here won't help you to get more advice, will it? You were previously told by others that remote diagnosis attempts were leading to dead ends, due to lack of info that you were providing - you just didn't seem to understand / accept it at that time.

i didnt want to "criticise" people here at all, i just felt misunderstood and wanted to (several times) clarify, what kind of answers i expected to get. anyone who felt "criticised" or offended in any way -> im sorry about that. but i think normal ppl can discuss things in a calm way, to get misunderstandings out of the way (i mean, i wasnt exactly flaming here - ok i said "damnit" one time, but that hardly counts imho ^^).

said that, im very grateful for those 2 links you (vulcan) provided me with. and i agree with one replying post to the "whats the big deal" thread - this SHOULD be a "forced" read upon registering to this forum.

i will now reconsider the diy repairing, after reading those 2 FAQs/threads... and considering a free quote offer someone here wrote me (probably much cheaper than "my" recovery firm). im curious where this will end ^^