short story: seagate barcudda drive blew a TVS Diode. Warranty drive arrived, can I swap PCB's to do an image?


Long story: Computer will not even turn on with HDD connected! Never seen that before. Used to be tech, but not anything near the expertise of most you guys, just gateway tech support etc.
Most critical info is backed up on external HDD, but I don't want to lose some significant client info I received this week via email. So I did some homework. Another user here removed the diode and driver worked great. But I am still under warranty, seagate pitched a fit at the idea of removing the diode and keeping me in warranty, despite the fact that it is obviously blown, (see pic). Received refurb HDD. Very similar drives:

SN's: Different obviously
Model Numbers: Same
P/N's: same
Firmware: Same
Date code: Different
Site code: Same

On the PCB the main chip designator number is the same but the rest of the info is different.

Can I swap out the PCB's and run an image to save some info?










Thank you for all your help, I really appreciate it guys. -Michael

Short answer is No. This is because there are other components on the failed PCB, namely the ROM, that contains unique data programmed specifically for its own HDD. There are many discussions on TVS failure in the forum, and some solutions also, but if you have any doubts and data is important it may be adviseable to get some professional help.

one thread on this forum that is probably gonna help ya is here:
http://forum.hddguru.com/samsung-hd501lj-dead-year-work-risk-t8990.html

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Hddguy, thank you for your help. Judging by your post count I would assume you have a pretty good idea of what your talking about.

Anyone else care to add to hddguy's comments?

Probably another thread but what do you think seagate will say if I pull the TVS Diode off? Charge me for the drive?

Hi ,
Remove the TVs Diode and Try the Drive Out .75% ++ chance is It will Work .Basically when the TVs diode Is busted the SMPS Positive Voltage Is directly Shorted To The Ground ,this Prevents the SMPS From starting Cos The Protection Circuit In the TL494 PWM Drive IC In the SMPS Is Activated .anything else Let Me Know

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Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Hi, The good news is...... in many cases you could just remove the damaged/fused protection tvs component and your data can be copied to a replacement drive.
The bad news is......in some cases there is more unseen damage to the pcb in which case you really should consult a local and capable recovery technician.

give it a shot it if data important for you.

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Well, I did not try to swap the PCB's per hddguy's recommendation. But I did remove the TVS Diode, which is something I have not done before. I was anxious about doing so since my soldering skills are ...well....terrible. And I didn't really want to send back an obviously tampered-with drive back to seagate and have them charge me for the drive.

But as I was doing research on youtube on removing PCB's off hard drives I found a guy that used a heat gun to take chips off the boards. I think it is called 'reflowing'?

While I have a heatgun the output is about 1.5 inches, a bit of a shotgun when I need a sniper rifle if you know what I mean. He had some kind of attachment on his heatgun to consolidate the heated air. I did not have one and did not feel like trying to buy one for this one job... so I made one out of aluminum from a coke can, a nut to hold the tip and staples for the cone. worked awesome using patience and a low setting on the gun. I made one out of several index cards before hand to make a pattern.

With the TVS Diode off, the drive works great. It is backing up as I type.

Thank you everyone for your input and help.

I hope I am just as successful putting the diode BACK on as I was with taking it off!

throw the drive away when your done backing up - putting the diode back is pointless, will just make the drive not work again.

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The drive is covered by warranty until November of next year, he is putting the TVS back on so he can get an RMA Refurbished replacement

opps, my bad - didn't read thoroughly.

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$300 Data Recovery - Los Angeles Data Recovery

For this particular drive if it were me I wouln't bother sending the drive back for replacement. You are only going to get back a refurbished drive in return which in my opinion might be less reliable than the one you have.

I would suggest you give the media a full scan to check the condition and if it passes I would source a replacement tvs diode and solder it into position.
Better than a refurb!