Hi. Joined the Forum to submit this problem. I did do a search, but didn't turn up anything. I did try, tho'. I've got a WD800BB - 53CAA1 that has gone bad. Neither one of my two systems will see the drive. I can hear it spin up, but bios doesn't recognize it as either a Master or Slave. Does not appear in the boot screen. The drive has some rather critical data (what drives don't!) that I'd like to recover. I've read about swapping out the Logic Boards and would like to give that a try. Not sure how to figure the Firmware version, tho. I have pics of the drive label and logic board.




Any one know where I can get a logic board for one of these beasts? Many thanks.

You did say the data was "critical", anyway...........

On the label you should match full model number - MDL
Good idea to match the data of maufacture as close as possible.
(WD800BB xxCAA1)

However, the fact that the drive spins up sounds like your problem
might be elsewhere and solving this, sorry to say it, requires some expertise - data recovery company.

Just as an aside, if the data is not worth the cost of data recovery then it
probably isn't critical.

Also, if the drive is making some clicking, ticking, scratching sounds, however slight - powering up the drive might kust cause some more problems which after more and more retries could probably damage the drive and of course data - more and more.

Your call

Before buying a logic board you may try the following:
1. Check the jumper position - no jumper if the drive is single on the IDE cable
2. Use MHDD to verify the presence of the drive. Give us a snapshot and we could give you an advice.

Well .......... not sure I'm intelligent enough to run MHDD. Tried, but was unsuccesful in getting into the app. Tried floppy and cd. Do appreciate the suggestion, tho. Would this really help retrieve the data? Thanks .......... Ken

First u need to check where its the Problem (SA Module corruption, Bad Head, Preamplifier circuit, electronic component ) u can get some diagnostics with MHDD then put what show ATA registers (AMNF,IDNF,UNC,ERR)