WD1600BEVT donor DCM question

[rogi85]

Hello everyone,

as first time poster, let me thank anyone looking into my issue.
I did research of my own before posting it, but since this is my first attempt to restore HDD, I'm afraid I don't have enough experience and there are too many questions with very few answers.

Currently I have WD1600BEVT-88ZCT0, DCM: FHCTJHBB. There is some data on that drive, however, BIOS can't read it. There is no spin up sound either.
From my research, I believe I could save it by finding donor HDD. Most of guide are related to older version of WD drives, with DCM having 9 letters - since I'm having Marvell (version 2, if I'm correct), there is only 8 letters.

I found possible donor HDD (with bad sectors, BIOS/Windows successfully detects it). Donor model is WD1600BEVT-22ZCT0, with DCM: FACV2ABB.
From guides, it seems that those two are not compatible, due to TJ != V2, but I've decided to ask second opinion.

Original HDD image
Donor HDD image

Any suggestion, or link to guide I could read on this topic, would be most appreciated.
Also, if those two are compatible, or when I find compatible one, how complicated would it be to fix original one, and is there any risk for data?

Thanks everyone

[jermy]

Need proper diagnostic first

There is no spin up sound either.

If the drive doesn't spin up the DCM is not a factor (yet), but the PCB IS
which is: 701499 + need to transfer the ROM chip or its contents
Or take a multimeter and start examining the PCB, to find out what's wrong with it

[pikus_09]

Jermy, ROM is masked on MCU.

[jermy]

Oh no , then the OP has one choice left if he wants the DIY route,
To fix the PCB !

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Oh no , then the OP has one choice left if he wants the DIY route,
To fix the PCB !

Jermy ,
Its Fun To Remove a QFP Main Chip Or a BGA Main Chip And Transfer It To Donor If You Are Sure Enough Its Not Fried .I Am Pretty Skilled With That BTW ,Will Post Lot Of Content Starting April [ When New Office Is Fully Ready ] .

[jermy]

I would have done too if I didn't had another choice, but because you can rebuild the ROM from SA why bother

[saltwater]

These Denali drives are works sometimes with donor pcb without rom content swap. Enough if fw microcode is a same.
As i see, the donor and patien manufacturing date is close, so maybe microcodes are same.

rogi85: swap PCB, maybe you will be a lucky 1000/1 !

[rogi85]

Thank you for feedback, it was very informative. I took some extra time to Google it a bit more, but can't say that I learned much (except that I might not be able to perform ROM chip swap with my present tools).

@saltwater I don't own donor HDD, and price for it is about 1/6 of professional HDD recovery. Do you think is it worth the risk? Not sure what "lucky" means

Is there maybe a guide how to check PCB? Eye examination showed that there is no visible damage. I could use multi-meter, but lacking instructions what/how to check.