Samsung HD103SJ does not spin up

[Deusdies]

Howdy,

First of all, I am a complete newbie when it comes to hdd "repair". Second, the "data recovery" prices are waaay out of my budget.

I just came home from a trip overseas (I brought the HDD with me). I plugged the drive in my machine, along with 1 other SSD and another Hitachi 1TB drive. When I booted, I noticed that the Samsung partition was not listed. I made sure all the connections are fine, etc.

I touched the drive and it seemed to be spinning. NOTE: I may have felt the vibrations of the other drives above it, so I am not 100% certain that it was spinning.

I then removed the power cable and plugged it back in, and then Windows 8 did a nice BSOD - my system rebooted. Tried it a few more times, same thing happened.

Then I took the drive out and put it in an external, self-powered USB enclosure and noticed that the drive does not spin up at all - no sounds are coming from it.

Googling, I figured that this model seems to be prone to the PCB failure. Lots of people suggested a DIY solution - swap the PCB myself. Now I have never done this, but I would like to learn. The data on the drive is not extremely important, but it would be nice to have it back. Also, I've seen some people say that they successfully made the drive work again by applying the "tvs diode fix". Let me quote a guy on Tom's Hardware forums:

However, continued searching the forum and read about the tvs diode and indeed one of mine was dead so cut it off and drive fired up and was recognised by the pc.

Is there any guide to this fix? Do I need to purchase a multimeter?

Also, what is a good place to purchase a spare PCB? My hard drive, as mentioned, is HD103SJ, S/N: S246JDWZ207503, P/N: 62821-C741-A0CUE

Some people mention "board number", but I can't seem to find that anywhere? Where would I find it?

Any other help/guides you guys can give me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks a lot!

[sathyan]

If your data is important, DIY is not advised.
DIY attempts can degrade the drive further, making recovery by a pro later very costly and difficult.

I plugged the drive in my machine, along with 1 other SSD and another Hitachi 1TB drive. When I booted, I noticed that the Samsung partition was not listed. I made sure all the connections are fine, etc.

If the TVS of your drive was faulty, the system will not power up.
So in your case , the fault is something else.

You can post a pic of the PCB, to help identify some general faults, but you will need the tools and skills to go any further.

A straight swap of PCB wont work,and you may need to transfer the rom too.
If the rom is external it may be easy, but in your case it may not be.

[tomsfans]

The HDD can’t spin. You can’t hear any noise or just hear a tick sound, which means the PCB is probably faulty.

Attachments

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[Deusdies]

If your data is important, DIY is not advised.
DIY attempts can degrade the drive further, making recovery by a pro later very costly and difficult.

I plugged the drive in my machine, along with 1 other SSD and another Hitachi 1TB drive. When I booted, I noticed that the Samsung partition was not listed. I made sure all the connections are fine, etc.

If the TVS of your drive was faulty, the system will not power up.
So in your case , the fault is something else.

You can post a pic of the PCB, to help identify some general faults, but you will need the tools and skills to go any further.

A straight swap of PCB wont work,and you may need to transfer the rom too.
If the rom is external it may be easy, but in your case it may not be.

Thanks for the reply. So if I understood you correctly, if the TVs on this hard drive were faulty, the entire system would not power up? Or the Hard Drive would not power up? (because it doesn't).

The second question is, how can I identify the board number on the PCB - i.e., where do I find it?

[sathyan]

. So if I understood you correctly, if the TVs on this hard drive were faulty, the entire system would not power up?

True, the entire system will not power up if you have connected it directly to the PC(not through the USB enclosure)

how can I identify the board number on the PCB

It is written(etched) on the PCB. Remove the PCB and check.Post a pic of both sides of the PCB (to find any visible problems).
But you will need some electronic idea and proper tools to test and identify basic components.

Else you can replace the PCB (Have to transfer the ROM from the original to the donor)and check. And if the problem was with the PCB only ,then your drive will work(if you have managed to avoid all the DIY risks).But if there is internal problems(Can be possible) then you will have wasted money on the PCB

As your data is not "extremely important" , decide if its worth all this or to buy another drive altogether.