This person sounds like some of the folks that call the company I work for. Some of them are jerks, and they give our call people a world of crap. They will be degrading and demeaning about something they have no idea about. They ask questions like "why does it cost so much, I've seen videos and it looks so simple?" I often wonder, what they mean? Cost so much compared to what? Getting your oil changed? Getting a haircut? What could you possibly compare data recovery to? As far as videos, I've only seen one out there with a video of the process, and it is littered with warnings about not doing it yourself. They also specifically state that parts of the video have been edited because they don't want to share that information. The edited part is probably the most crucial elements. It also appears to be a very informal demonstration of the process, with the intent of giving a glimpse of what goes on, not a detailed how to guide.

Wheelchair, I don't believe anyone here is trying to intentionally berate you on this subject, it's just that most here have spent many many many days, months and years of trial and error cultivating their own methods to garner successful results. You can see where the time and effort involved makes one somewhat reluctant to share information with someone who just wants simple answers quickly. Trust me, I've asked some questions here that now I realize I had no business asking, and when I didn't get the answers I wanted I realized why. I also understood that it was up to me to come up with my own ways of doing things. There is a steep learning curve in this industry. Chances are, even if you were told exactly step-by-step how to do it, you still would lack the experience and equipment needed to do it correctly. No different than if someone told you step-by-step how to do a heart transplant.

Truth is, there are no simple answers. There really isn't one answer that we all hold as some sort of secret society, which we're under agreement not to tell anyone else. I'm sure that most here probably do things their own ways, some more efficiently than others. There's a lot of PM'ing between professionals here when difficult cases come up.

So, parts matching is the least of your worries. Even if you got the exact same drive that came off the assembly line right after yours, your chances for success would still be extraordinarily low. If you want more information as to why, then you're going to have to do what most others have done here, and that is research it on your own. Once you have the answers, you'll soon find that there's more to it than matching up part numbers and DCM's.

Greetings,

I'm going to ask a question at the risk of being castigated like the Wheelchair guy who posted above me.

1-2 months ago my power supply exploded and killed everything it was attached to, including my hard drive which was:

Model: WD2500KS
Firmware: 00MJB0
DCM: DSBHNTKAA

A nifty site here sells just the logic board http://www.pricebat.ca/Western-Digital- ... .p_134076/

And that's cool. Unfortunately none of the products advertised are of the same DCM, which is frustrating to say the very least.

For a while I had a glimmer of hope when I read:

" If your original board HDD firmware or DCM number is different. You need to change the BIOS chip from original board to the replacement board, in order to make the replacement board compatible with your HDD. If you need us help you to swap the BIOS chip, please contact us. Thank you."

Which leaves me with the impression that perhaps I will be able to save my data after all.

Then I stumbled upon this site.

Correct if i'm wrong but the take home message from the last 15'ish posts seems to be:

"If you have a WD hard drive, don't bother trying to fix it because you're fucked and by attempting to save your memories you'll only be more fucked. Now please submit to our $1500 data recovery services."

Correct? Does this apply to all WD hard drives ever, or just the more recent ones?

On the first page of this thread, Pepe says:


Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems that implicit in this statement is that PCB swaps are more feasible with "older" WDs.

What constitiutes an "older" WD? The cold dead HDD on my desk was made in 2006. how's that for age?

Thanks. Any advice you have to offer will be appreciated.

I understand that if some of you derive expertise from working in the DR business then there would be quite the conflict of interest in benevolently and altruistically telling me how I might best recover my data, especially if you were to broadcast those "trade secrets" (quasimodo, page 2) on a public forum.

If anyone feels like helping me avoid forking over $1500 so that I can reread my journal of 4 years and see pictures of family and my dog again, I'd really appreciate it if you dropped me a private message if you are adverse to posting technical trade secrets publicly and online.

Not to be overly castigating,

but there are bazillions of threads here about that very issue. You could probably search "Western Digital PCB", or "power surge", or "PCB swap", or even "replacement board". As a hint, try "TVS" or any post by "fzabkar"

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

This PCB supplier includes a firmware transfer for US$20:
http://www.hdd-parts.com/20091010.html

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

@drc thank you for directing me in a general direction.

@ fzabkar:

Is a firmware transfer necessary if I've already found a HDD with the same model and firmware specs?

I just can't find a HDD with the same DCM.

I'm not a DR guy, but my understanding is that matching the DCM is important when looking for mechanical parts, but not so important when matching the electronics, if at all.

However, even when two drives are "identical", you will still need to transfer "adaptive" information to your donor. Therefore ISTM that the term "firmware transfer" is a confusing misnomer. The pros should be better able to answer your question.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

fzabkar is correct.

The ROM chip WILL have to be transferred (or contents read and written to new PCB with equipment you don't have), regardless of DCM match etc...

In simple terms (there are complications and exceptions) the ROM has a small amount of firmware of a very specific version, which has to match exactly the version of the rest of the fw on the drives platters to calibrate and initialise the drive. If it does not match then the drive will not initialise.

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PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

I you are "lucky" then a new PCB and ROM swap will get you going. If you are "unlucky", then the power surge also killed the preamp that is mounted on the head assembly. In the latter case you will have to part with a few pesos to get your data back, as it requires a pro at this point. Even so, it can be done for quite a bit less than $1500 by several qualified firms.

Good luck.

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http://www.datasaversllc.com