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
November 19th, 2008, 6:07
hi i have a seagate external hdd, internals are barracuda 7200.10 ultra ATA 320Gb. the other day i wok up still a bit drunk from the nite before and pluged the power lead in, the light flashed on then went out, then i realised that i'd pluged my laptop power lead (20v), i have just seen another thread on here advising to remove a diode, which i'll have a l;ook at tonight and see if that works, do i just un-solder it?
if that dosnt work, i thought about getting a similar hdd from ebay or somewher and swapping the circuit board over, if i do this would i have to ust the excact same model or could i use a slightly different one, i.e. 7200.9 or 11, different capacity, or different interface SATA
Any help would be very much appriciated,
Matt.
November 19th, 2008, 6:39
Swapping PCB isnt that simple. Firstly, versions of ROM will be different meaning ROM replacement will be needed. Secondly, there is no guarantees that the damage to your PCB has not damaged your preamp or heads.
Also, there are many posts here regarding TVS diode damage, I would read a few of them first to get a better understanding of your problem, assuming you do have a damaged TVS, which I think you probably have.
November 19th, 2008, 13:05
If you can match the correct firmware and architecture then you should not really have to swap any chips at all. A much easier operation
November 19th, 2008, 14:13
hi, thanks for yor help, iv taken off what im prety sure was the tvs diode(see pics) but still dosent work, the diode didnt look damaged, i saw a thread on here sayin that ther were 2 diodes,
what else could i try, should i fit another identical PCB?
November 19th, 2008, 16:46
What specifically happens when you attempt to power the drive?
November 19th, 2008, 17:12
This is easy to recover with correct donor drive.
November 19th, 2008, 17:59
hi, thanks for trying to help, you lot seem loads more helpfull than on some other forums,
before i took the diode out, - when i plug the power lead in to the mains, the green light in the transformer comes on, then when i push the 'on' button on the enclosure the green light on the transformer goes out
since i took the diode out - when i push the 'on' button on the enclosure the green light on the transformer flickers for 1 or 2 seconds then stays on,
the green light on the enclosure comes on as normal with the on/off button, only if the drive is not connected, but if the drive is connected it doesnt come on at all
The drive makes no noise and i cant feel any vibrations or movement goin on inside
i cant see any smoke from anywher or smell any burning
and the computer doesnt pick up anything.
Thanks again, Matt
November 20th, 2008, 1:32
your main problem is the headstack would had damaged the preamp ic chip
that what i seen with a lot of seagates with people plugging in the wrong power supply.
you might get lucky matching the boards up and then the drive would work again
November 20th, 2008, 4:27
so if can find a PCB from an identical drive, that might work?
Thanks
November 20th, 2008, 9:23
hi again iv had a private message from 'networkpc3000' he said he can supply a PCB so i emailed him and got this reply.
'Dear matt,i think you don't any pro tools for repair hard drive, right? i can help you find out the PCB fix for your drive. it's so ease for me. by the way. you need some diagnosis tools for seagate drive. otherwise you work like working in nigritude. i am come from china. i need you provide the address & post code information. and the clear image for the PCB main & motor chips. i need to see ship clear. pleae advice. thanks'
I dont mean any disrespect to the guy but with all the internet scams you cant be too carefull, what does anyone else think.
November 20th, 2008, 10:08
He should be safe to deal with, he is a well contributing member of this forum.
November 20th, 2008, 10:56
matt_81 wrote:hi again iv had a private message from 'networkpc3000' he said he can supply a PCB so i emailed him and got this reply.
'Dear matt,i think you don't any pro tools for repair hard drive, right? i can help you find out the PCB fix for your drive. it's so ease for me. by the way. you need some diagnosis tools for seagate drive. otherwise you work like working in nigritude. i am come from china. i need you provide the address & post code information. and the clear image for the PCB main & motor chips. i need to see ship clear. pleae advice. thanks'
I dont mean any disrespect to the guy but with all the internet scams you cant be too carefull, what does anyone else think.
WTF is the point of a PM if it's going to be posted in the forums?? Asking about his reputation is one thing but reprinting his message is another. In my opinion it damages your reputation by reposting this. I certainly would think twice now if I were going to contact you privately because of this. I understand that you were worried about being scammed but I disagree with your method in this instance.
And honestly who can you trust on this forum just by asking "Can he be trusted"? Have you met any of us before? Or dealt with us previously? If you trust us to say he trustworthy than your trust may be a little misplaced. I AM NOT SAYING ANYTHING BAD ABOUT hardrivespecialist but he could be networkPC3000 with a different login. My point is that I believe you should be careful with your actions in the future.
November 20th, 2008, 11:11
magneto wrote:
WTF is the point of a PM if it's going to be posted in the forums??
I agree, hence why PM stands for PRIVATE message.
November 20th, 2008, 11:58
If I posted all my PM's there be some crazy lawsuits going on!
November 21st, 2008, 5:18
Now you know why I don't wan end users to contact me

- I love children because they are so "innocent" , when they become teenagers (and nowadays the 'teen' age lasts until and beyond 40's) they are lost forever. End users 90% act as teenagers.
November 21st, 2008, 17:48
He can be trusted .
November 22nd, 2008, 14:38
If too high voltage, head amplifier, will be burned.
MSN:china2005zbz@live.cn
November 24th, 2008, 9:45
Matt... The solution comes from China!
November 24th, 2008, 10:09
Can't you connect it to some other source of power other than the original USB enclosure it was installed in, which may have also been damaged by connection to the wrong power supply?
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