So basically I have a Maxtor Diamondmax 9 200GB harddrive with code YAR41BWO. It was hooked up an external exclosure so that I can use it as an external hd. One day i saw funky smoke coming out and it turns out the SMOOTH chip is toasted. It has a hole in that chip. I replaced it with a working PCB (yes the firmware, code, etc, matches) and when I plugged it in my computer, it spins and the head sounds normal to me. I only test it for like 10 seconds. As soon as I put it back to the exclosure, even when the power switch is off (but the device is plugged), that smooth chip burnt too. So I'm not sure if the preamp is killing the PCB board or whether the exclosure killed it due to bad power. After doing some searches here, I tried to test it with my multimeter on the HDA pins, but I want to compare values to other members and hd specialists here. So I perform the test by following pepe's method, but his method did not include the +5 results.



Assuming my diagram is correct.

My checked the values with my multimeter in resistence and diode checking modes. I placed the red wire on GND and black wire on -5. My values were 0F (infinity) for both resistance and diode check. If I reversed the wires, the resistance is at around 3M. For +5, the resistance is at 770 ohms with diode check, it reports 0.378. Reversing the polarity of the wires yielded the same results. Checking between -5 and +5 reports infinity. Based on this report, is my preamp dead and is killing my PCB, or is it simply my stupid exclosure that's killing it? Would anyone mind posting their results on the resistance between the pins i tested? Thanks!

I really hate these Maxtor harddrives. I really wanna plug the PCB directly to 120v and watch the fireworks.

If you need your data take it to a Data Recovery pro.

This thing could be caused by several things.

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www.datarecoveryne.com

I know that, but i'll take to DR only if I 100% sure that replacing PCB will not solve the issue. The only time it fried up the PCB is when I plugged in the power from my external exclosure. I believe the exclosure have an overvoltage to the PCB. If it's not the preamp problem, I believe it should work if I change the PCB, which is why i want to compare my results to others and see if my preamp will mess thing up too. Obviously I'm not gonna plug it to the exclosure anymore.

... Then get a compatible PCB and try AT YOUR OWN RISK (you can fry the donor PCB either and then the fried drives are two if there are problems on the preamp inside the HDA)... if data is not important throw the drive away and get a new one for about the price of a spare PCB. These homegrown solutions can work only if you're very lucky or know exactly what you're doing and assuming all the risks, sad but true. If you want your drive fixed for free then it's another thing.
Rgds.

your preamp would not damaged the hard drive itself
when the preamp head goes it will jsut click click away.

i would say that your exclosure is going open circuit
or possible the motor on the hard drive is ceasing up.

connect it up to your pc and put your hands on the chip
if its goes hot it means its more likely the motor at fault.

I vote for exclosure

I also vote for the enclosure...
However a damaged preamp is able to kill Q500 and the smooth as well.

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Hi ,
Can You Click the Photo Od the HDd and the enclosure

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Ok heres the update to my situation.

I received my new PCB yesterday and I was scared to put it in my hd since I'm afraid that it might smoke or catch on fire on the smooth chip. But i dared myself, plugged it in, turned on the computer, and voila it works! It spins, detected, and I can see my files. No clicking what so ever, so I assumed my preamp is fine. No smoke or fire, which mean it was my exclosure that killed my previous PCB. I was able to back up my files, whew! So then I shut back down my computer and I decided to put it in my computer.

BUT....

this time it takes a longer to detect. It spins fine, but I heard 1 quiet click only when the HD tries to read. It will continue to do this after 7 seconds, so its not like a click-of-death kind of sound. It won't click if nothing is accesssing the hd. Windows can detect it, but can't read it. Linux just spit out errors. When I go to the BIOS, it reported a capacity of 203GB, which is wrong! Should have been 200GB. So now I think my PCB is messup again. Did the firmware just got corrupted after i shut down my computer?

Well, you got your files, congratulations. The solutions involving donor PCBs are often quite temporary, so this is no surprise. First law of data recovery? Assume that you will never get the drive to spin up again and proceed accordingly. You've just validated it one more time