Another case of DIY gone wrong here.

WD2500JS-98MHB0 with dead PCB.

Simple enough, right?

No, not when the cuntstomer has had a bash himself (or a "mate who kows about computers") and cooked the ROM!

(Also the lid had been opened, I'll come to that)

I have determined the ROM version to be 02.1CC (also H4,5 are bad), so need a WD Hawk ROM of this version to at least get the drive up and working to a fashion and tackle the bad heads later.

I've trawled through all my ROMs..... close but no cigar

Now thanks to DIY, a $200 job is now going to cost him $1000+

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Email sent.

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Many thanks, but that's 02.1TC

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This is closest I have.

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Many thanks for looking my friend.

I'll get someone to rummage around for that Toshiba ROM you were after

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PC Image Data Recovery
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Hi,
Try this...
Hawk

Mikippp

I doubt it - but what about this?


40TGB0
DSCANT2AAN

Just sold it so let me know if you want me to rip something of it for you...

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It seems that the unluckiest people in the world are those that don't backup.
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Thanks Mikippp, I'll try that tomorrow and let you know

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Mikippp, you are king of WD resources

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

DIY is not the problem. The problem is that people aren't aware of cost effective alternatives. For example, there are companies (eg onepcbsolution.com) that will supply a PCB plus ROM transfer service for US$50, inclusive of postage. The VAT on your fee of $200 will alone approach that cost.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

...and then people who read the whole post learn that the case also involves bad heads. Meaning that messing with PCB and ROM was most likely not necessary or useful in the first place, and only served to make things worse.

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

So the $200 quote was for a head job? I guess that's not too bad, then.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

$200 for a PROPER recovery from a PCB problem is not unreasonable I don't think, with parts etc.

Unfortunately we're not all in the position of being retired and mortgages/bills/taxes/housekeeping/rent/rates/staff/utilities won't get paid by giving services away.

The head job would probably NOT been necessary IF the client had NOT DIY'd and proceeded to open the drive after botching the ROM swap assuming that the PCB wasn't at fault.

This is all conjecture of course, as we have no way of knowing which caused the failure in the first place thanks to DIY.

So far as your sarcastic comment regarding a $200 head job on WD, please keep your comments to yourself. Thank you.

If it was "just" a head problem then the price would have been around $500-$600 not $1000+. Again thanks to DIY we now have at least two faults with the drive (not even got as far as firmware issues or platter damage yet)

I agree that sometimes DIY is acceptable (in the case of personal data that isn't worth a recovery fee, or a simple TVS problem) but in the case of important unreplacable data like in this case, then this is yet another classic example of how DIY can go wrong. That's all I'm saying.

I have helped many people that have come to this forum for free or negligable cost (with more than just TVS problems). Not necessarily out in the open but often by PM or email.

But I think I'm going to have to cease ALL help for newbies now if I'm gonna get slated every time I state the obvious that DIY CAN go wrong.

I'm sure you think that the higher fee is just to say "I told you so" but that isn't the case, it's because of the greatly lengthened amount of time to recover the drive.

End of the matter. No further correspondancve will be entered into. The judges decision is final etc etc...

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

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