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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Suitable Eprom Programmer for Seagate /WD / other Drives

March 2nd, 2010, 13:36

Which programmer I should buy to copy contents of seagate Eproms? Is it possible to use some mechanisam to copy eproms without desoldring them?
Is this suitable -- http://www.sivava.com/products.html?
Any suggestion will be appreciated

Re: Suitable Eprom Programmer for Seagate /WD / other Drives

March 3rd, 2010, 5:53

To be honest I could not find any of the serial flash memories currently used in HDDs on that page. I do not know that programmer, if u are sure u only need to program a few types, then it is fine, but if u want to prepare yourself for more memories, I would recommend something better.
I use an EEtools Topmax, it supports around 40.000 devices as far as I remember.
I know it is much more expensive, but it is worth every cent.

pepe

Re: Suitable Eprom Programmer for Seagate /WD / other Drives

March 3rd, 2010, 6:10

learner wrote:Is this suitable -- http://www.sivava.com/products.html?


That was my first programmer and it was complete crap. Expect to pay $500 to $2000 or more for a quality programmer.

Re: Suitable Eprom Programmer for Seagate /WD / other Drives

March 3rd, 2010, 8:17

Even more.

Re: Suitable Eprom Programmer for Seagate /WD / other Drives

March 3rd, 2010, 8:47

There's no secrets, you get what you pay for :!: ... This version of the willem programmer will allow you to program some spi eeprom but not all models (afaict atmel 45DB family used in tohiba drives is not supported). You'll be able to read and write serial eeprom used in seagate and wd (25f). There are cheaper ebay alternatives but they don't support the right spi eeproms.
Concerning reading and writing without desoldering, you have to be sure that you don't power all the pcb from the programmer. If you do , that will fail. Anyway, soldering a soic8 is easy with the right tools (e.g. hot air).
Regards

Re: Suitable Eprom Programmer for Seagate /WD / other Drives

March 3rd, 2010, 15:33

Seriously, why would you need $2000 programmer for data recovery?
My $100 GQ-4X works in most cases. If it does not for some reason I can always swap the chip manually.

Re: Suitable Eprom Programmer for Seagate /WD / other Drives

March 3rd, 2010, 15:44

Because universal programmers / testers can do much more, and professional tools DO have update and service. If it wasn't for such tools, my job would be more and more difficult.

Re: Suitable Eprom Programmer for Seagate /WD / other Drives

March 4th, 2010, 5:13

i recommend 580U or 3000U if you really need programmer for Seagate. especial for seagate 7200.11 .12.
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