Could this work?

It is cmpatible with 5V, 3.3V and 1.8V. Does it bring with all cables needed?

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B07WX2DSVB/ref ... UTF8&psc=1

It looks OK. I can't see how the cable is terminated, though. You should measure the preamp resistances before spending any money.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Yeah I wanted to talk about it. Are the three pins I mentioned before?

Can you confirm me the pins I checked are the correct ones?

I would need to see your HDA, but it should be obvious if you have it in front of you.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

yes, that's it. You can trace down which one is which on the pcb. I thought you are a bit more into electronics because it looked like that
Anyway, i checked it, the outermost pin is -5V, the next one is +5, then GND.
But since you already started the drive and it did not click, preamp is ok most probably, so at this stage this check lost its importance. Now it is like checking if the river had alligators after crossing it

Your next step is attaching the usb-serial adapter to the diag port, the 4pin connector besides the SATA con, the order is RX, TX, GND, Vccio. Connect the adapter's TX to the pcb's RX and adapter's RX to pcb TX and GND. Vccio is only a reference to the adapter if it has such input, yours probably does not have. Pay attention to the voltage level of the adapter, it must be 1.8V.
Set 38400bps, 8bit, no parity in the terminal prog and let's see the log.

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Ye, I was about to write that, but pepe beat me to it (it's becoming a habbit, doesn't it ).
Since drive doesn't click, preamp is most likely fine, you're wasting your time. It would click and spin down.

Terminal output is now absolutely your next step.

PS. I have to give it to this guy, he 's got soul. I offfered him to recover his drive for free and he declined.

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

I know a lot about computing and so, but I'm not into eletronics, but I am learning a lot of new things and I'm glad because now I know a little more, for example, about welding, although they still look horrible I have learned to solder and desolder and now I realize the importance of a tester.
Thanks for telling me that I've looked that I was into electronics, even tho I'm not hehe.

--------------

Why do I feel cheated about the usb-ttl-adapter? Haha (I'm joking) Now I've to figure out how this thingie works. Time to research!
(It has 5v, 3.3, 2.5 and 1.8 V adapter it comes with a little jumper that I do put on the V i want to use)

I've read I've to be careful about puting commands on this?

For now I've no clue and I'll play with the other HDD just in case I do not do good. Gotta research on the internet about programs and stuff.

Hello,

don't use any commands at this point, you may brick your drive easily with wrong commands.
just post the log you get during powerup.

edit: Northwind, you missed this one

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Don't issue any comman..... hehe...

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

Hopefully you won't need any support for your adaptor:

http://www.dsdtech-global.com/search?q=SH-U09C5

There is no listing for this product, and no downloads (eg drivers).

Virtual COM port drivers are available here:

https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I got it!

But I'm unsure about this log...

"Boot 0x40M
Spin Up[0x00026F7C][0x000273E8][0x00027854]
Trans."

I'm no capable to read or understand that... Am I screwed?

What happens if you type Ctrl-Z?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Forgot to say thanks for the Drivers, Fzabkar!

Took me awhile to get it all prepared but after trying it with the working hdd I tried with mine and got that:

"Boot 0x40M
Spin Up[0x00026F7C][0x000273E8][0x00027854]
Trans."


Nothing happens when I try CTRL+Z

Well,
As a experienced Physical recovery technician i can say something on Preamp Failure due to voltage .If a preamp inside the HDA fails the flex PCB wire that connects to HSA and Heads Preamp Contacts burns ,This inturn produces smoke and that smoke settles on the platters ,Changing heads in that case without cleaning platters does not produce any results .If there is no internal burning its all good .

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Do you get anything more if you connect the SATA data cable to your motherboard?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

The SATA data Cable was already connected to my moBo. I took another PSU just to suppy the HDD so I could turn it on or off without damaging the HDD.

Anyway...........

Guys........................................................................


MY HDD IS BACK!


I had a hunch about what was wrong on my HDD. Ye, it could be internally damaged, but something was telling me that the ROM wasn't 'repaired' at all.

We assumed, or so I think, that the ROM was fixed, but I was not 100% sure, so in my spare time, I would read and reread my ROM readings (Remember, my programmer did not read the ROM very well) and compare it with the theoretically fixed ROM.

Do you know about the 2 halves that should be the same? (256kb / 512kb) Well, I started looking at other functional ROMS and I noticed that for example "CAP" would appear in one half but not in the other, so I did the same with mine. The CAP does not appear in the upper part (1st half) but it does in the lower part (2nd half), in addition to a couple of other differences. You could say that they are approximately 99% the same, but they differ in some detail. (By the way, WITHOUT TOUCHING ANYTHING, my programmer read the ROM better and better every time I read it, WEIRD, although there were always some gaps with zeros). So, since I had to wait for you guys to reply me about that Terminal Output Log, I was testing some modified ROMS... and boom, the miracle has happened.

I guess my ROM was malfunctioning, but I still could read some data out of it.
It's a bit difficult for me to explain. You know, language walls. But I'll try my best.

Imagine the ROM is divided in like 20 Fragments. When I hit "READ", it could give me fragments like 1, 5 and 9, REST is blank/null. On the next reading, it gives me 2, 11 and 12. On the next reading, 3 and 16. And so on.
So all I did was join all fragments to get my complete ROM. Easier said than done. Now you multiply that for 100 times. I spent like 12 hours trying to join all fragments.
On the first readings all I received was like 0 data. Then after hitting and trying some more times I could read a very few fragments out of it. Incomprehensibly (And again) without doing anything (I didn't try to re-solder, I didn't change settings, I didn't change ports), it reads now like 70% of the ROM. So now it's easier to compare between 2 ROMS.

What can I say? Maybe I could have send this to any of you and you would have read the ROM on the first try? Not sure
I tried to solder my ROM to the donor's PCB 3 times and it didn't work, and I soldered the original donor ROM 3 times and it worked everytime. So I don't think my solder's job was bad.


Anyway... all I can say is Thank you. THANK YOU TO ALL who replied to this thread. Specially to you three Fzabkar, Pepe and Northwind. Also thanks to HaQue for the Hex Editor.

Now I feel more comfortable about electronics and soldering things. Even thought it all ended up in being a ROM issue, I've learned way a lot about DR.

Congrats!

Now i guess you know the next 3 steps: backup, backup, backup
I would be interested in reading your rom with my reader if you are completely done with it.

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Yes, I should backup everything from now.

But... I wanted to know what would be the best strategy about backing up things.

Cloud? Nas? How do you manage multiple drives? External? Internal drives? Mmmmmm... so many options.

Btw about the ROM yeah, I would send it to you if you really want to try this monster on your reader.

I notice that the transceiver IC used on the 1.8V adapter is specified for 2.5V logic, not 1.8V. Therefore I'm wondering if it can really handle the OP's task.

https://assets.nexperia.com/documents/data-sheet/74ALVC164245.pdf

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A backup a day keeps DR away.