Model: WD6400AAKS-00A7B0
DATE: 24-SEP-2008
DCM: EBNNNT2CH
LBA: 1250263728
Origin: Product of Malaysia

PCB Sticker: 2061-701537-E00 07PD3
PWB: 2060-701537-003 REV A


Okay where do I start, my partner got rather angry at me a decided to throw my hard drive directly onto the ground destroying the ports from the PCB, I threw the ports in the bin (I know I should have kept them) I kept the PCB itself, my question is would I be able to purchase an exact match PCB and swap it without having to also desolder/solder on the rom chip to the donor PCB (does this PCB have any adaptive information specific to itself that it would require the original rom chip to be solderd onto the donor PCB, I found a specific match on ebay at the below link but want a little more information before I go ahead and purchase it, I know the hard drive may have further internal damage due to the drop/throw however I'm hoping a PCB swap may be enough for me to be able to recover my data, this disk was purely used for storage and I am in desperate need to recover my data.

Further to this if I purchase this donor PCB and give it a shot to see if it would work without swapping the rom chip could I risk doing any further damage to make it more difficult to recover my data or possibly corrupt the data using a donor PCB without swapping the rom chip which stores the adaptive information?

If required I am more than happy to take some pictures to help you guys assist me with a plan of attack for this HDD.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/150946082099 ... 008wt_1271

I have a feeling the Pcb is the least of your problems since the hard drive was thrown on the floor.

Of course as I stated within my post I understand it may be facing other internal issues due to the hit on the ground how ever from what I can gather my first step would be to replace the PCB so I can then determine if the hard drive itself still spins up and operates at least and for this I need to replace the PCB with working ports on it first. I think I was very specific in my question and exactly what I needed answered.

Cheers

So you absolutely want, if there is a mechanical damage, to screw up one or more surface when powering on with a new pcb. Go for it, then...

BlackST so your confirming yes I could indeed do more damage to the HDD and my data by trying to power on the device using a new PCB?

Potentially YES as you don't know what's wrong inside. But don't open it.

What would be my best plan of attack given this scenario then ? I'm really confused as to where to start and am in desperate need of getting access back to my data.

First of all you cannot simple just swap a PCB on this drive.

Secondly, as everyone else has said, it is EXTREMELY likely that internal damage is present.

Thirdly, I'm a bit confused about your conflicting statements of "desperate to get the data" and then saying that you're aware that you could (for this read "will") cause further (and quite possibly irreparable) damage to the device by trying an ill-advised PCB swap?

Either the data is important or its not.

If you don't care about the data then fill your boots, waste your money on a PCB swap. But if its important then this is a classic example of "no DIY, seek pro assistance"

Sorry to say what you don't want to hear, but that doesn't make it any less true!

I wish you luck.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Okay I get the point, don't attempt a PCB swap seek professional help, hypothetically speaking though lets say everything internally is fine, would a PCB swap without a rom chip swap to donor PCB work or no there is adaptive information on the original rom chip that is required for the donor PCB to work correctly? Your post interests me the very first part.

"First of all you cannot simple just swap a PCB on this drive."

This leads me to believe there is adaptive information on the rom chip and that would need to be desoldered from the original PCB and soldered onto the new donor PCB am I correct in saying so ?

If the OP want to hear something different , it's for free : first buy a pcb, then ask for 'free adaptation'. If no joy, a local TV/AV repair shop can do it for you. Still no joy? From Internet infinite wisdom, you have a wide choice : freezer, oven, 'banging maintenance' in case there's STICTION. Ok, still no joy? That's a tough case. Here Youtube comes to aid : in the bathroom, with few tools and working laying on the floor, you can open the drive and swap heads and/or move the pack. Still no joy? Free solution for pictures : Google Earth and Photos... Ok, GIMP (it's free). For the rest, rewrite documents and re-download what was downloaded. Cheap enough ? After that, you have been adviced about the risks of grinding platters with your data, if it has not already happened. All the rest is useless.
All the bad ideas above are a collection from this and other places, just use the search function...

Partially correct, there is adaptives info on the board but it might well not be in an actual rom chip on the board, it may well be embedded into the MCU.

But you're missing the point, if you fit another PCB and fire it up with damaged mechanics you could very easily cause severe platter damage, making your recovery much harder (and subsequently much more expensive) and quite possibly impossible.

But..... Your data=your choice

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!