WD Elements 4TB Repairable PCB?

[hattondjh]

WD40EMAZ-51TKPB0

Hi. I have a brand new WD Elements 4TB that had 19v powered in, instead of the 12v. The case board has a fried chip and so does the PCB.

Can the fired chip be sourced and replaced? If so, what is it? Is this a case of sourcing a donor board? The reason I want to attempt to fix this drive is because it's brand new and I don't want it to go to waste, I hate waste. And I am also interested in Electronic Repair and its something I might consider getting into.

There is no valuable information on this drive so I'm not going to be attempting anything for data recovery.

Thank You,

Daniel

[fzabkar]

You need to replace the TVS diode (SMBJ12A) and fuse (2A, 4A ?).

If you just want to get the drive going and don't care about reinstating the overvoltage protection, just remove the diode and flow a blob of solder over the fuse.

Your drive appears to have power loss protection. That explains the two Winbond serial flash memories and the bank of capacitors near the SATA connector.

Just to satisfy my curiosity, would you mind telling me the part markings on the three 8-pin ICs and the small square chip at the middle of the dog-legged edge of the PCB?

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[hattondjh]

Appreciate your help. The chip just fell off and one of the contacts is dirty so I'll give it a go tomorrow. I'll clean up the contact and fuse them two points together and see what happens. Do I need to touch the fuse or will I leave it alone for now? Again, appreciated thanks. Daniel

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[fzabkar]

You can leave the fuse in-circuit. Just flow a blob of solder over it. Hopefully there are no other problems. You should measure the resistance between +12V and ground (eg a screw hole) just to be sure.

[hattondjh]

Can I ask your thoughts on the Reddit thread I made. Is the drive possible encrypted as some of the replies mention?

https://www.reddit.com/r/datarecovery/c ... urce=share

[fzabkar]

Could we see the damaged USB-SATA bridge PCB?

Your model is an Elements, so it is most probably not encrypted. However, the enclosure's firmware may be configured for a sector size of 4KB. Windows will complain that your drive needs to be formatted, but don't be tempted to do it. Instead you can still see your file system with a tool such as DMDE.

https://dmde.com/download.html

[hattondjh]

Ok, thanks. I will post some pics of that in the morning. It's really great there are people like you willing to help. Thank you.

[hattondjh]

Could we see the damaged USB-SATA bridge PCB?

Your model is an Elements, so it is most probably not encrypted. However, the enclosure's firmware may be configured for a sector size of 4KB. Windows will complain that your drive needs to be formatted, but don't be tempted to do it. Instead you can still see your file system with a tool such as DMDE.

https://dmde.com/download.html

Here is the USB SATA Bridge. This one is probably a bit trickier to fix as the chip that's blown here is an 8 pin.

Is the sector size issue relevant in Debian EXT4 format?, drive is used to store media in OpenMediaVault.

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[fzabkar]

The blown chip is the dual MOSFET power switch. You can remove it by snipping its pins with flush cutters. Then you can bypass it with 2 wire links. If you are able to use a soldering iron, the whole repair should cost nothing.

Windows won't see your file system when the drive is installed inside a PC, if the sector size is 4KB as I suspect. You would need to backup the data to another drive and copy it back again.

BTW, there are 3 "ROMs" on the HDD PCB. I suspect that the ISSI chip contains the actual firmware and "adaptives", while the 2 Winbond chips probably contain cached write data for power loss protection. I expect that it would be safest to transfer all 3 to a donor PCB, should the need arise.

W25Q40EWVIG, Winbond, serial flash memory, 4M-bit, 1.8V, dual/quad SPI & QPI, WSON-8:
https://www.winbond.com/resource-files/w25q40ew-revh-01162017-sfdp.pdf

IS25WP080, ISSI, 8Mbit, 1.8V, SERIAL FLASH MEMORY WITH 133MHZ MULTI I/O SPI & QUAD I/O QPI DTR INTERFACE:
http://www.issi.com/WW/pdf/25WP016_080_040_020.pdf

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[hattondjh]

Hello. I'm going to attempt a repair soon. Please can link me to where I can get the dual MOSFET chip please. Kindest Regards.

[hattondjh]

I removed the TVS diode and it still wont power up in my pc. I isolated pin 3 just incase but it still wont power up so I think a fuse near the TVS diode is fried also. Unfortunately this is now outside my pay grade because of scale of the fuses so I'm gonna quit. I might find someone with the skills needed to have a go at this but I would not pay alot seeing as this is not a data recovery exercise. I hate this thing going to waste so I might donate it to someone who can re commision this? Would this interest you fzabkar?

[fzabkar]

I removed the TVS diode and it still wont power up in my pc. I isolated pin 3 just incase but it still wont power up so I think a fuse near the TVS diode is fried also. Unfortunately this is now outside my pay grade because of scale of the fuses so I'm gonna quit. I might find someone with the skills needed to have a go at this but I would not pay alot seeing as this is not a data recovery exercise. I hate this thing going to waste so I might donate it to someone who can re commision this? Would this interest you fzabkar?

It's sad because you are so close to a repair.

Maybe someone could do the minor soldering for you. You might like to ask here:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/

The MOSFET need not be replaced, if you bypass it with wire links. I can help your technician with this.

Otherwise you can find it in my database:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/Datasheets/DATAURLS.HTM

If you still can't find anyone to help you, and if you can't get a warranty replacement, and if you are willing to ship to Australia, I would pay the shipping cost.