Hello. New here. Hoping I can get some help with a customer's hard drive. I feel like I should mention that I am still quite new to "advanced" data recovery techniques, so please keep that in mind.

A customer brought me a 4TB WD40NDZW-11MR8S1 hard drive that he said would not spin up. Totally dead. I initially checked the cable with my own just to rule that out, and same result. I then removed the PCB (2060-800041-003 Rev: P1) )and used a multimeter in diode mode to check for shorted lines and I did not find any. Next, I bought the same replacement board and then swapped the BIOS/EEPROM from the original board to the donor PCB. I reinstalled the PCB to and plugged in the USB cable and got a white power light and the hard drive now spins up.

The hard drive is detected in Device Manager and Disk Management, although Disk Management wants me to initialize the disk. I know better than to do that, so I have not initialized it.

In my research that I have done myself, I have come across information relating to Spyglass 2, which I understand is the encryption used on the PCB. I was under the assumption that the BIOS chip that I swapped from the original to the donor contained the hardware encryption keys and other calibration data, but maybe that has nothing to do with this problem? I really don't know much about the encryption part. I have just now read about Spyglass 2 for the very first time, so it's obvious I am a newb to this level.

I have done these PCB and BIOS swaps in the past and had perfectly fine results. This is honestly the first time I had an issue and I don't know if the drive is uninitialized due to additional physical problems with the disk, encryption issues related to Spyglass 2, or some other problem altogether like I didn't swap over some OTHER component that I didn't know I was supposed to, etc.

Can anyone help me understand what is going on here and perhaps point me in the direction I need to go in to recover data off of this drive? Thank you so much.

Go back to the original PCB and reflow the solder at the zero-ohm resistor between the USB connector and 12-pin header. These resistors often develop dry solder joints.

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H60e2fb97c2b242da9bd9932a5bec010fm/C-ng-HDD-Western-Digital-PCB-2060-800041-003-REVP1-WD-4T-USB3-0-WD40NMZW.jpg

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for the tip! I went back and swapped the BIOS back to the original PCB and reflowed that resistor and what do ya know, it worked! Thanks! The drive now powers on and spins up with the original PCB, however, Windows reports an Unrecognized USB Device. Tried multiple ports, cables, and computers.

Any ideas?

Try a USB 2.0 cable. It could be that one of the USB 3.0 data lines is open.

Otherwise test the continuity of each data line by inserting a USB cable and measuring the resistance between the host end of the cable and the corresponding pin of the USB-SATA bridge IC. Sometimes those tiny chokes go open circuit.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Something to consider ...

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=2048

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for the tips. USB 2.0 cable seemed to help some. It allowed the computer to detect the drive in Device Manager, but not Disk Management. It didn't auto mount either.

I checked the chokes and all seemed to be well. I decided to try swapping the Asmedia controller from the donor board to the patient board and once again, the drive was recognized but uninitialized.

I then swapped the original Asmedia controller IC back to the original PCB and mysteriously it was recognized and mounted.

I am currently copying data as I type this, although it's copying ultra slow at about 50 BYTES a second, but hey, I've already got hundreds of files that I didn't have before and it says about 22 hours to go.

I can only pray it finishes before it dies or the power goes out with this winter storm approaching.

Thanks a lot for all of your help. I couldn't have done it without ya. I'll post back the end result. Hopefully it's a successful data recovery!

Thanks again and I definitely learned something.

I expect that if you examine the drive's SMART report, you will find lots of reallocated, pending or uncorrectable sectors.

Cloning the drive with HDDSuperClone would have been your best DIY option, but I fear that the drive may go offline forever if you power cycle it.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Just wanted to come back and report that I was able to successfully copy all of the data. I randomly selected a few files to open to see if the data wasn't corrupt and all seems to be in order, so it looks like a successful data recovery. Just wanted to let you know and anybody else who might read this know that.

Thanks again!

I just created an account to share a similar experience. Exactly same symptoms here, on a personal Spyglass WD40NMZW-11GX6S1.
Drive is rather new (<2years), not used intensively, but has recently traveled 11000 kms in a plane (check-in baggage).
Was working fine when I left, trying to plug it back on arrival, but resulted in the above symptoms: no light, no spin, no noise.

I'm not a total noob in computers, but my DR expertise is definitely limited to third-parties software (Recuva / GetDataBack/...)
Started to browse some topics, getting familiar with SED, U12, PCB swap, PC3k, TVS diode, Usb2Sata, and so on...

And then, I found this little gem:



Decided to give it a try, but didn't have any solder available. Ok fine, will buy one tomorrow!
In the meantime tonight, I applied a gentle push on the resistor + cleaning of the joint and... it was actually enough to power back the drive!

Ho, and I fell for this trap too, and indeed usb 2.0 + a shorter cable did the trick:


So I'm currently copying my datas to a safe place...

A huge thank you to you, fzabkar, and more generally to you, DR experts, for sharing all these useful infos.

Hello everyone,

i have a similar situation. i have a WD40NDZW-11A8JS0. the light turns on but no spin. it detects in disk management as uninitialised. this thread gave me an idea and infact the resistor had a slight crack now i have soldered it but still the drive behaves the same. light is on it detects in the computer but uninitialised. any help will be much appreciated.

Kind regards

Have you checked the resistor for continuity? It might be better to bridge it with a blob of solder. If that does not help, heads are probably faulty, which is detected before spinning up (sure for chargers, very probably for this family too).

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

What's the history on the drive? The resistor is a signature fault but as pepe suggests it's not always the cause. If you have a meter handy check the resistor and the voltages pre and post.

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Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

sorry guys was busy over the weeked. the continuity is there but no spin. the drive was sent to wd under warranty and ofcourse the guy wanted the data back so they had to return the drive. however the drive has been opened possibly to check if its a motor jam issue which it isnt. any other ideas ? the model of the board is 2060-810035-000 REVP0.

Kind Regards

From a DIY point things are pretty limited but you can try metering the power rails to check the voltages. I would still be suspect of a cracked resistor.

Most of us offer free evaluations but once the drive has been opened that's no longer available, prior recovery attempts are a nightmare to try and diagnose or work with. Who opened the drive? as doing it has distinct Youtube stuck heads solution feel. Do you know that the PCB and ROM are the original?

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Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

the drive was opened but no part was touched i am sure of that. after much tinkering and blobbing the resistor the drive is spinning now but now it comes as unrecognised. tried usb 2.0 cable with same result.

Kind regards