Hi guys,

My Samsung 160GB just recently died on me. It was in a music server, which died. I then took the drive out and put it in an enclosure to get at the data. The first time I tried it in the enclosure the power light of the enclosure came on briefly then went off again. After this, there was no life from the drive. On closer inspection, part of the PCB is burnt out, and the enclosure has a small scorch mark.

No idea why using the enclosure would have blown it up. Here are some pics of the disk details and the PCB, including the fried area. I am wondering what the component is that seems to have burnt out (the only thing I can read off it is 'RAH'), and whether this would be easily replaceable.

Do a search for "TVS" on this site, you'll find all you need!!

Or if you don't fancy doing the work yourself, PM me. I'm in UK (Peterborough)

Cheers

Sean

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Or when everything fails, then call me...

Ah, that sounds promising. So just removing the TVS might enable me to get the data off it.

I am slightly concerned that the enclosure blew it up in the first place though (the same enclosure can run a different drive perfectly ok). Do you think the TVS was just on its last legs and was gonna blow anyway, or could there be a danger that if I removed the TVS and put it back in the enclosure, I might end up doing more damage...

A TVS doesn't just short out because it is tired. It dies because of overvoltage, doing what it was designed to do (to protect "downstream" components).

Concerning your question about removing the shorted TVS and putting it back into the same enclosure, let me ask you a question: When a fuse blows, do you remove the fuse and replace it with a penny (or a lira in your case)?

Jon

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Sit and wait...

@jono-ats

Really I was wondering why the enclosure would blow it up in the first place. It is plugged into a surge protected socket, and is brand new (and works fine with other drives), so I just find it a little strange. If I tried the disk again after removing the TVS, i guess it would be safer for me to take it into work and try it in a PC there.

@BlackST

I'm afraid I don't understand your cryptic comments...

Don't worry, most of the times neither do I.

I definitely WOULDN'T use the same enclosure, get yourself another.

Just my advice, from experience.

Also, if the drive doesn't spin up and work straight away, power it down sharpish and seek pro advice.

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Be sure to get a different manufacturer's enclosure.

The most common reason for failure is that the small switching power supplies that are part of the enclosure system are cheap and poorly designed or regulated. (I wonder what country yours was manufactured in?)

If you had a junker hard drive without TVS protection, you might use it as a suitable load and hook it up to the enclosure. Then measure what should be +5 and +12 and I think you'll have your answer.

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How do you measure the two rails? - don't say with multimeter. Enough for today...

Ok, thanks for the advice.

I will have a crack at removing it (or actually, to save getting the soldering iron out, I will probably just cut it in half) and try it in my PC at work. If that doesn't work, I may well come knocking on your door (for expert help, not to give you a peace of my mind ) .

I must admit I went for a cheapish one from Amazon, but it did have reasonable reviews. I think I will send it back though. I'm not impressed that it fried the first drive I plugged into it!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000S8BZ12

You can always send the drive in for recovery. Until platters are not scored, 'yes we can'.

I have good luck with BYTEEC and VANTEC brands.

One time I used a "universal" USB adapter (it has a purple anodized case - can't remember the manufacturer) and fried a client's drive right in front of them. Taught me a valuable lesson or two (like don't hook up drives in front of clients!)

Anyway, we find that this particular configuration has fried other people's drives too.

Get something reliable. I would tend to buy a more expensive one, on the theory that maybe it would be better constructed.

Jono

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