(1) Not sure of value of data to end user, seems to be more than $50, but less than $500.

(2) When drive is connected to Dell Optiplex 755, BIOS does not recognize it most of the time.

(3) If other SATA drives are also connected at the same time, they are not recognized by the
BIOS (but are recognized when problem hard drive is disconnected).

(4) Tried a live PCB swap with very similar drive (same model, similar date, similar but not
identical DCM #). [Used "hdparm -y" in Linux to suspend good drive, then moved drive
body from problem drive to still connected PCB of good drive.]

(5) After live PCB swap, seemed to be able to list partition table of problem hard drive, but
could only copy off ~14 MB using GNU ddrescue (seemed to be mostly from beginning area
of hard drive).

(6) Did not swap ROM from U12 (which is populated on both problem and good drives).

Is there anything in the above information that suggests a PCB replacement with a ROM swap
would (or would not) be a reasonable thing to try? I understand an actual diagnosis is not
possible with this information, I'm just wondering if there's enough information to indicate if
swapping the ROM from U12 could be helpful (or if there's something that rules it out as the
primary issue).

Thanks.

(1) Why not ask?
(2)(3) Could suggest PCB, heads, firmware or surface issues
(4) Would never work without copy SA tracks from client drive to donor first and would need client original ROM
(5) Won't work with wrong head map and translator information
(6) Why not try?

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

Luke,

(1) That was the best I could pin down for now. I think the
user is currently assessing what is wanted/needed and the
effort to recreate it versus the cost to recover.

(4) Thanks, I'd seen mention of needing the original ROM, but didn't
know about the need to also copy SA tracks.

(5) The head map and translator information is contained within the
ROM that needs to be swapped?

(6) I think we will, and I will update this post with the results.
However, it may be a few days.

Thanks for your comments. I looked at the website linked in your sig.
If I'm not mistaken, what I've described would likely involve some
type of repair before recovery and therefore would probably not be
a "Level 1" repair? (Again, I understand without actually looking at the
drive it's not possible to make an assessment, just looking to clarify the
boundary between Level 1 and up.)

How do you, tactfully, ask a customer how valuable his or her data are? If someone were to ask me that, I would interpret such a question as "how much can we do you for?"

By way of analogy, should the price of an oil change depend on the price of the car, or should it be determined by the cost of the oil and labour?

@hddquestion01, one easy thing you could try would be to gently clean any oxidisation from the HDA contacts on the PCB using a soft pencil eraser.

Another method which has worked for me in two recent threads is to apply a fix for the "slow issue". Perhaps that is something you could try. Let me know if this of interest to you.

If the drive can be detected, try retrieving its resources with SeDiv:

http://sediv2008.narod.ru/Easy3.9Passwo ... 567890.rar

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

I ask "Have you gotten any quotes or estimates from other data recovery firms? What's your budget for the recovery? Knowing could save me unnecessary work and time."

_________________
Sabo Computer Repairs & Data Recovery

You just tell them it will cost between x and y and they decide if they leave it or not. It is important to know if client values their data $20. I don't care if they value it high on the up-scale because the charge will be the same whether they value their data $500 or $50,000, but I care if they value it low, because as Larry said, it will be a waste of time, if for example drive has a mechanical failure and they expect a $50 fix (because "that's how much a new hard drive costs")



You do that.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

Thanks everyone for the additional comments, suggestions and links!

Currently arranging for swapping the ROM. I will add an update when
this has been done.