And that would be an SDRAM chip then.

The "dark spot" is unclear. I don't know what to make of it.

In any case, measure the resistances of the four small components near the bottom LH corner of the Samsung SDRAM. Set your digital multimeter on the 200 ohms range.

The part marked "LE" is the 12V TVS diode. The component above it is the 5V TVS diode.

The component marked "125F" is a polyswitch. It should measure zero ohms.

The part marked "000" is a zero ohm link.

There also appears to be a damaged component (transistor ?) between the motor controller IC and the motor, at about 11 o'clock.

OK, thanks for your input so far.
Got out my old meter, 000 measures zero, so does 125F.
LE measures 7.2Ohms, both ways.
The one above is open circuit both ways.

I looked over the rest of the board with a 14x magnifier, but don't see anything obviously smoked. Even the dark spot on the SDRAM just looks like a dirty smudge, rather than overheating.

The 12V TVS diode appears to be OK. However, ISTM that something is loading the 12V supply. I suspect a fault in the vicinity of the motor controller chip.

Test the transistor and Schottky diodes in the photo clip.

OK i finally managed to get my meter back on this.

The diode top left measures 197 Ohm one way, 1.7K Ohm the other.
The diode bottom right measures 90 Ohm and 145 Ohm.

I don't know how to test the transistor.

I usually fix mechanical things, not wiggly things.

Sorry, I can't help you.

The diodes are probably OK, but it's hard to be certain without knowing what's connected to them. I think the "hole" on the transistor may in fact be a mould mark, but once again I'm not sure.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for your help anyway. I think as you say the "hole" in the transistor is a mould mark. When I used the x14 mag it has very neat edges and is very round.

I have had a quote from one of the data recovery firms that were linked to Samsung's support website, Recovery Labs. 560euros. £485. No fee if data is not recovered.

I now have to decide if what I can't reconstruct from other places is worth £485 + VAT, + shipping, + alternative storage media from the long list of options, or if I just write it all off buy two drives make a RAID fileserver out of an old PC and don't be as silly next time.

My music collection can just be ripped again, all my old photo-prints can be re-scanned, I probably won't need most of the documents stored on the failed drive. It will just take a (long) time.

If this was business data, I think the fee would be reasonable, but if this was business data I would have made better back-ups.

Try PC Image off this forum, He is in the UK and I'm sure he can do it much cheaper than recovery labs.

485+VAT+shipping is a good price in my opinion, maybe the OP can have a better quote, but don't expect to pay 100£.
Can be that additional work is needed. And hope drive internals are OK (preamp).

£485 sounds a bit steep for a PCB issue, £200-£250 is more like it and that would include cloning to a good drive to eke out any bad sectors which is alwyas a possiblilty in this situation.

Assuming it's only a PCB problem.

The only way it woud be more like £485 is if the preamp inside the drive has gone too, which is possible but unlikely.

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

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

Just FYI, the following company offers a replacement PCB for US$40, plus an additional $10 for a ROM transfer. International shipping is $3 extra.

http://www.onepcbsolution.com/

BTW, I am not associated with any vendor.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Replacement pcb 9 out of 10 won't work because of rom variables. If so he has to refer to a pro anyway. What if the Mcu is dead so it can't be 'moved'? And still the state of the rest is unknown . So what apparently can be a saving, without a proper diagnose (hands on, not thru pictures without having schematics and knowing how these drives work) turns into an additional , useless expense.

OK I did think about just gambling on a replacement board, but as BlackST says, it would probably be a waste of time and money.
It's on the way to PCImage. Hopefully it will be recoverable and won't cost me an arm and a leg. Fingers crossed. Thanks to all for advice.

At least it will be handled by someone who cares about your data, I'm sure about it. I would have handled the case, but as you were in UK it is quicker.

The data on this drive has been recovered. Shaun at PCImage data recovery did the job, really quickly, for £240, including a new external 500Gb drive (with all my data 400Gb), shipping and VAT.
I would recommend them to anybody looking for value for money data recovery.
Thanks Shaun.

Another plus to pcimage!
Way to go!

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

Thanks.

It turned out to be a completely dead PCB, had to find out the correct ROM version and then find a PCB that suited

As it happened I had one in my stocks, so the price could be kept low.

See, not all DR companies are the same!!!

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

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

perfect solution

[quote="pcimage"]Thanks.

It turned out to be a completely dead PCB, had to find out the correct ROM version and then find a PCB that suited


How does someone know what ROM version they have and thus which one they need when swapping PCB's?