I replaced an old dying 80GB SATA drive in an Laptop by a new drive and wanted to connect the old drive with an external SATA to USB adapter (DELOCK USB 2). The drive does not spin up.
Then I reinstalled the drive into the Laptop again and id did not work.
So the "operation" obviously killed the drive.

Measuring the voltages at the power connector showed 12.2V without drive connected but 13.4V with drive connected which looks too high.
I really don't know what finally killed the drive.
Is there a way to check if the drive could be revitalized (e.g. protection diodes?)?

What was the problem with this drive before you replaced it?



Laptop drives do not use the 12v power ,You have to check the 5v line.

http://pinouts.ru/Power/sata-power_pinout.shtml


There wont be TVS diodes, but usually there are fuse on the 5v line, for checking.

Post A pic of the component side of the pcb , if you want help in identification and testing.

You will need some electronic idea as well as some basic tools .
Remember , DIY attempts can make matters worse with your drive. So if data is important, its easy and safe to take pro help.

As sathyan says, there are no TVS on that drive, but there is a fuse near the power connector which often blows.

As data doesn't sound like its important, DIY is probably worth a shot,at your risk of course.

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Thank you sathyan and pcimage for your assessment.

What was the problem with this drive before I replaced it?
Drive was system drive of an XP SP3 Laptop. System froze from time to time. Eventlog showed several "iastor errors" I denoted to a hdd problem. Quick test of hdtune revealed 2 bad sectors. Smartmontools output did not tell me much. There were a couple of non-recoverable errors. So I decided to replace the disk.

The data on the drive are mainly install packages from the internet. So data is in principle recoverable but will take some time.

I am pretty sure that the drive died due to the external sata to USB connector. But of course a static electricity discharge could have done the job either.

Attached find the photos of the drive pcb. It would be nice if you could tell me which the fuses are and how to check.
I would give it a try to "bridge" the fuses before binning the drive.

Thanks in advance!

Top left (ish)....

little component with an "N" on it.

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Thank you pcimage!
The fuse is conductive meaning not blown.

If I only knew if the external adapter was the reason.

That depends on which specific command(s) you ran. If you supply the output of the command(s) which you ran, then readers here can give an interpretation.


The voltages which you quoted previously (including the supply voltage being higher with the drive attached, than without) are certainly a concern (and a surprise). However the averaging effects of a multimeter mean that some power-related problems cannot be properly diagnosed / understood that way (i.e. their readings can be misleading).

Try connecting it directly to the SATA power port of a PC, and test without connecting the drive
Check voltage at the fuse (5V) and on the two coils(inductor) .
Very limited DIY options ,though ,on this board.

You will have to find an identical pcb and replace the pcb to bring the drive up.
Then cone the drive (as the drive initially was failing and had bad sectors) and recover data from the clone.
Involves time and money, and chances of recovery( by DIY )is less



You have to decide which is easier .

If it is polyswitch (resetable fuse), result is not conclusive. Not sure, as normally polyswitch is green. But shape indicate it is polyswitch.
Meassure voltage on the fuse under full load (hard drive spinning up). It shouldn't be higher than 0.1V.

Thank you all for your suggestions!

Found a Disk MHT2080BH ... Drives Product Manual, which supports sathyan's statement that only 5 V are needed for drive operation.

Voltages at both side of the fuse are 5 V. Voltage drop accross the fuse is definitely less than 0.1V. The drive does not spin at all. The 5 V could be found at several places on the board and also near the coils resp. the 8 pin voltage converter ICs (D91 02/04 ?)
But according the manual there should be Voltages 3.3V, 1.2V and -3.0V around. (I could imagine that UA0 and UA1 on the pcb should reflect two of them). I could not find any of those voltages on the board.

I guess that the voltage converter ICs need a clock that has to be generated by some other circuit - probably the motor controller IC. Thus I suspect that this BGA-IC is gone.
Unless there is not another simple protective element on the board that burnt and could easily be replaced I would agree with sathyan that getting a replacement pcb is the only suitable option for a DYI approach.

I have two working 40GB ATA drives (not SATA):
MHT2040AT and MHT2040AH PL.
I could compare voltages, it is the same generation, PCB's look similiar, but obviously it would be better if someone had access to SATA one.

My assumptions were completely wrong. Thans to fazkbar's part list I found a hint:
The voltage regulator ICs seem to be "Synchronous Buck Converters" that have their own oscillator on board. Data sheet from ROHM BD9102FVM and BD9104FVM:
http://rohmfs.rohm.com/en/products/data ... 2fvm-e.pdf

The regulator block at the lower side is then for 3.3V. (See attached image)
I observed that output voltage is low as 0.5 V and the IC is getting extremely hot.
Output Voltage is fed to EN of the 1.2V regulator block at the upper side of the PCB. The voltage has to exceed 1.2 V to start the converter. So 3.3V is not operational hence 1.2V regulator does not start, which explains that both voltages are down.

I thought of a short circuit. The Resistance between top of R2 to Ground is only 4 Ohms.
Now some questions to the pros:
Is this indicating towards a short circuit?
If not would it make sense to replace the 3.3V regulator?
Would it be possible to feed 3.3 V from an extra power supply to the top of R2 and desoldering R2?

Thanks in advance

Meanwhile I could give answers to my questions:
Q: "Is this indicating towards a short circuit?"
A: Yes, it was the voltage regulator.
I desoldered it and the resistance between top of R2 to Ground is now 4.8k Ohms.

Q:"If not would it make sense to replace the 3.3V regulator?"
A: Yes, If I had one

Q: Would it be possible to feed 3.3 V from an extra power supply to the top of R2 and desoldering R2?
A: Desoldering of IC is sufficient. Feeding 3.3V from an ATX Power supply is possible
=> All voltages are available again

I remounted the PCB on the drive chassis and the drive began to spin.
With the external USB-Adapter the drive is now detected in Windows and all files could be copied.
Now the drive is ready for binning .... Or I try to get a voltage regulator.

Thanks to everybody for your hints! I am happy.

Good job, Well done.
Lucky too..