Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
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Dead Exos X18

April 22nd, 2026, 15:24

Hi Everyone,

My first post here. You guys seem to be knowledgeable, nice and helpful

Got myself a Seagate Exos X18 that does not spin up. It is within warranty, but I thought if I can recover the data, that would be a huge plus.

I will not use recovery service. I do not have a PC-3000 :)

I have read what I could find and have done some initial troubleshooting.

Drive does not spin up at all, so I tried removing the 3V to get rid of the Power Disable feature if that is spooking.

Next I checked for voltage to the motor and measured 0 V with a multimeter. So, I tried with a donor PCB of similar model and the motor did indeed start spinning. Naturally ending with a clicking though.

I read that sometimes a fuse or a diode goes dead. Have limited knowledge and cannot identify all the components but the checking with a multimeter with continues the 1R0 seems to be OK.

I’ve attached pictures from the board. The black component close to the 12V seams to read ”J9 1T3 1530” or something.

Any help or hint on how to proceed will be appreciated.
Attachments
4768K.jpg
4768K

Re: Dead Exos X18

April 22nd, 2026, 15:35

Measure the 5V and 12V test points.
Attachments
e-fuses.jpg

Re: Dead Exos X18

April 23rd, 2026, 13:17

Thank you! See attached for measurements. What should I be looking for and what does it mean? Is the 12V test points too low?
Attachments
Measurements.jpg

Re: Dead Exos X18

April 23rd, 2026, 14:04

???

Are you using the wrong PSU modular cables? The pinouts for these cables are not standardised, so you should not swap cables between different PSUs.

Re: Dead Exos X18

April 23rd, 2026, 14:16

fzabkar wrote:???

Are you using the wrong PSU modular cables? The pinouts for these cables are not standardised, so you should not swap cables between different PSUs.


I have seen that horror story several times before. Now I use laptops and SSD and relegate hard disks to enclosures. More recently old M.2 have found their way into enclosures as well.

Re: Dead Exos X18

April 23rd, 2026, 17:21

???

No it is a standard PSU mollex during test. I have another X18 drive connected with same SATA and Power cable and it works fine.

Re: Dead Exos X18

April 23rd, 2026, 17:31

I don't understand. :-?

Why are you seeing 5V at the input of the 12V e-fuse?

https://pinoutguide.com/Power/sata-power_pinout.shtml

https://www.onsemi.com/download/data-sheet/pdf/nis5232-d.pdf

https://www.mouser.com/ds/2/277/MP5000S_r1.0-371509.pdf

Re: Dead Exos X18

April 23rd, 2026, 17:49

Maybe I have mis-identified the 12V capacitors. Anyway, you have the datasheets.

Re: Dead Exos X18

April 24th, 2026, 11:57

Hi,

I double checked, and triple checked the measurements and get the same readings. I do get 12V when measuring from PSU input.

Maybe I am doing something wrong? I measure towards the screw hole in the bottom as ground, with multimeter set at 20V DC.

Se updated picture.

Thanks.
Attachments
Measurements-v2.jpg

Re: Dead Exos X18

April 24th, 2026, 12:30

Measure the voltages at the 12V e-fuse IC. Its pinout is in the datasheets. That corner of the PCB is very crowded, so I'm not sure that all my test points are correct.
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