As a personal and small business tech support guy, it seems like it would make sense for me to try replacing a HDD PCB as a cheap last resort before writing off a drive or looking at $1500-2000+ for a clean room repair.

In cases where a donor board is close but not entirely compatible, I understand that a firmware transfer from the dead board to the donor will often make them compatible.

Without a PC-3000 or some other piece of expensive equipment, can I copy the firmware off of a drive that the BIOS doesn't even recognize, and write it onto a replacement board?

Yes and no.

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

"Yes" is encouraging -- don't like to hear "no."

But care to elaborate a bit?

Variant : OK but you have to be BlackST. Not encouraging much eh ?!?

Tools simply do in automated way what a procedure does, with embedded know-how. This is why you pay them a lot and why are maybe not needed at all if you know what to do. You pay for the time they save you in terms of study and R&D.

First of all, it depends upon the drive.

Without a PC3000 or similar, you can (sometimes) move firmware around by desoldering and resoldering. But success depends upon your gear and skill. Just look what happened to the Greek fellow when he tried to move a relatively simple 8 pin device . . .

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

When it's a BGA or when rebuilding from SA is needed ?

Being new to this board, I read your message and thought "you have to be BlackST -- OK, so that's some sort of acronym (like IIRC or FWIW) or a member organization or maybe a certification." So I went off and did a Google search on the term, and one result pointed back at this board. Finally I had a slowly dawning realization, came back, and looked more closely at your message. Yep, you're BlackST!

Long answer: yes it is possible, no it isn't guaranteed to fix your problem, and probably not will anyone tell you how to do it

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

Well, everything has a price tag on it...

(but don't ask me)

This company is offering a ROM transfer service for $10, if you buy a replacement board from them:
http://www.onepcbsolution.com/

However, you will need to send your original PCB to China. Otherwise a junior tech at a local TV/AV repair shop should be able to do it for you, if the ROM is external to the MCU.

See this thread:
http://www.deadharddrive.com/forums/vie ... =9531#9531

The OP writes that s/he "took the board to an electronics repair store and for $20 the ROM chip was swapped. "