Help Western Digital damaged bios chip

[rider]

I shorted the PCB board on my WD 320GB blue hard drive. I ordered a donor PCB board and was going to swap chips. I however damaged it and some legs pulled off and now it's really messed up. I've read that without that info it won't start. I talked with a recovery company and they said they could probably get the info off of it. It's this possible? And if so how do they do it? The info that's on it is not worth the $1500 they want to charge me. I'd say it's worth $200. Has anyone had any luck recovering data when the bios chip is damaged on a WD hdd?

[digisupport]

Any professional data recovery company will be able deal with you missing ROM chip.
But you are the only one who can decide is data is not worth it.

[ghimpe--]

Can you post a good, high resolution, macro picture of the damaged chip?

[Cleanroom]

I am in Austin and can take a look at it. But we would need to evaluated it first because it might be more than just a board issue. If it is just a board issue it will still be a little more than $200 bucks for the recovery. There is software out there you can by to adapt a new board with the ROM from the original PCB, but that software may be more than what you are willing to pay on a company to do the work for you.

if you are interested let me know

[lifeguarddubai]

can you share Picture of Hard Drive 320GB is old model Drive most probably ROM Recovery will be possible from SA, 200$ highly doubt any professional company will take this case, may be freelancer with PC3000 or MRT Tool near your place can assist.

[northwind]

So, this motherf***r decided to send us his drive for recovery.
After a dozen of emails back and forth and consultation how to send it properly, we received his HDD on April 17.
The drive was as described, a WD 320GB Pinclite missing the entire PCB.

We recovered it and sent him a file listing with the contents. The data in the drive was 280GB of footage taken from a DVR.
He wrote back and said 'oh, stupid me, I sent you the wrong drive'.
Of course, after we told him that we need to get paid for our services and that the fact that he sent us the wrong drive is not our fault, he disappeared from each and every communication attempt.

I mean, ok, someone who sends the wrong drive for recovery across the globe by definition isn't the longest straw in the basket, but c'mon.

THIS IS A HEADS UP for anyone taking up a job from this guy.

Anyone taking a job from Mathis, TX, be aware. His name is Roger.

[MISU]

So, this motherf***r decided to send us his drive for recovery.
After a dozen of emails back and forth and consultation how to send it properly, we received his HDD on April 17.
The drive was as described, a WD 320GB Pinclite missing the entire PCB.

We recovered it and sent him a file listing with the contents. The data in the drive was 280GB of footage taken from a DVR.
He wrote back and said 'oh, stupid me, I sent you the wrong drive'.
Of course, after we told him that we need to get paid for our services and that the fact that he sent us the wrong drive is not our fault, he disappeared from each and every communication attempt.

I mean, ok, someone who sends the wrong drive for recovery across the globe by definition isn't the longest straw in the basket, but c'mon.

THIS IS A HEADS UP for anyone taking up a job from this guy.

Anyone taking a job from Mathis, TX, be aware. His name is Roger.

Its sad to know , except from corporate business customers some advance payment must be taken to ensure customer is serious.

[fzabkar]

So, this motherf***r decided to send us his drive for recovery.

I'd like to see how you managed to convince a guy in Texas to send his drive to Greece when there was a DR guy in Austin who was offering to do the work for probably less than it would have cost in shipping and customs charges.

[pepe]

probably it was 5 bucks cheaper this way than what Cleanroom would have charged

[northwind]

I'm probably more attractive to crooks and gaslighters.

[Cleanroom]

We have a bench fee in our contract for situations like this, and when they fill it it out they have to initial a box that states the data they want is on the drive we are recovering.

Maybe he sent it across the seas since it would be easy to disappear if it was the wrong drive.

Sorry to hear that you got screwed.

[SOSdonnees]

I shorted the PCB board on my WD 320GB blue hard drive. I ordered a donor PCB board and was going to swap chips. I however damaged it and some legs pulled off and now it's really messed up.
(...)

Has anyone had any luck recovering data when the bios chip is damaged on a WD hdd?

Yes, we have been successful at resoldering broken BIOS legs and recovering data and, if the problem really comes from the PCB, we can often do for less than $200.

The whole PCB is required, because often, after locally scraping the chip, the available metal section to receive the weldering material will be too small to properly hold the leg into place. But after soldering the chip to the PCB, we can restore the electrical connection between the leg and the chip. We can also solder a new leg if necessary.

As for the non technical side, thank you Northwind for informing us about this bad customer.

Your bad experience with the author of this thread, confirms that psychology is part of the work running a business. Trust is important in the data recovery business and, sometimes too naively, we expect we can trust our customers reciprocally. As we see, this is unfortunately not the case.

They were I think a few warning flags in the behavior of original poster ...

• First, the author is totally new and doesn't take the time to greet people.
  No "Good morning", "Hello", "Hi", etc.
  Ok, this is partly cultural, but can be considered a first yellow or orange flag.
  At least, it demonstrates the author does't have the most elementary respect for the often highly skilled people who will take from their time to answer him this forum.
  ......................................
• Second, the way the author describes the offer of the DR company he was in contact with:

  The info that's on it is not worth the $1500 they want to charge me. I'd say it's worth $200.

  Would he have told about its modest budget from the very beginning, the aforementioned company would probably have told him that it was not possible for them. (Unless they told $1500 to get rid of this kind of customer.)

......................................

• Third, is one additional red or orange flag:

  I talked with a recovery company and they said they could probably get the info off of it. It's this possible? And if so how do they do it?

  The user seems mostly interested at obtaining some free advices to make his hard drive working again.
  He doesn't appear especially interested in delegating the work to a professional.

......................................

• Lastly, the author was totally disinsvested in its own case. When two users suggested him to post a picture, he didn't answer.
  This should turn the case into a red flagged one, or at least an orangered one.

Of course it's always easier to analyze the situation afterwards, but we should pay more attention to early warning signs that are often emitted by possibly bad customers.