First of all Hello all! First post here!

So, guys, I have this ST31500541AS and I've managed to damage its pcb (plz, don't ask how, it was so stupid of me), but the firmware chip is ok. Now, I have another spare pcb from the same model of hdd. So far so good you may think, just swap the firmware chip already! Well, the thing is, for the life of me, I can't seem to be able to find where on earth I've put the damaged pcb....stupid, I know!

Now, I was wondering, say i don't find it, could I at least make the drive usable somehow with the spare pcb, even if I don't get it to see the previous partitions and data? Could I flash the firmware or whatever and get it working again as a blank drive? If so, maybe I could then run a data recovery program and salvage some data off of it...?

Many thx in advance!

this is F3 Arch drive, so missing the original ROM chip is a big mess if you need data from drive.

I suggest try to find the original PCB else contact a professional DR company who is able to rebuild ROM For this drive, is going to be very expensive if you don't find the original PCB.

there is respected member on this forum from Greece:
Northwind, send him PM

https://www.northwind.gr

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Data Recovery Pakistan

thx for the reply! One more question then. What if I decide I don't care for the existing data? Can I somehow make the drive usable again as a new drive without the old firmware? Thanks!

Yes, it'll just cost you 5x what the drive is worth.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

I was wondering if there's something I could do myself or if there's a guide, but if it's not possible then ok, I'll just forget about it.

Hello,
i can recover that drive without native rom.

PM me if interested.

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Adatmentés - Data recovery