This is my first attempt at recovering data from such a low level issue on a drive. Typically I have success with RTools when the drive is recognizable.

Goal - to recover some data from the drive.

Here is what is known about the drive in question:
-WD1600B EVS - 00RST0 160.0GB
-The laptop that it was in reportedly took a bit of water (not much so I am told, but enough to cause damage obviously). The laptop itself seems to be in working condition.
-I noticed some residue on the corner of the PCB of the drive when the drive was removed
-The drive seems to spin up when power is supplied, and then a few seconds later seems to spin down.
-when connected via usb the drive is not recognized
-When connected directly to another SATA port in a working machine I receive a BSOD (XP host) and the BIOS can not determine any info on the drive

Here is what I have done so far:
-removed the drive (it has not been in the system since I recieved it.
-cleaned the residue from the PCB
-used MHDD in USB mode - could not be located
-used MHDD when connected to a SATA port - drive seems to be recognized but has a 0 size and indicates the it is not LBA compliant and fails

My gut is telling me that it is a PCB issue. However is there a way to tell for certain? and if so does this get me anywhere?

There seems to be quite a few posts regarding this model drive, but since my issue *may* be unique I thought that i would post for some thoughts and advice.

I appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, feedback on what more I can do to try to get data off this drive. I have no need for the drive only to recover some data from it.

thank you!
-boldt

Doesn't sound like PCB to me

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

Thanks for the response. Any thoughts on what it might be if not PCB? is there something else I might try to narrow the possible issues?

Get a professional diagnosis

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

I should add that I realize that I am (very likely) way over my head here. Having only experienced recovery from the logical side, this physical recovery has always fascinated me. This just happens to be one of the first real world opportunities to even stick my head down this long dark rat-hole.

I also understand that the best course of action will likely be to take it to a "professional". Well having spent 20 years in the IT industry supporting devices that rely on these devices well I want to *try* to understand more before I do send it in. I am just tired of treating these being built with voodoo! With that said I have used professionals in the past and while expensive in most cases, they get results.

I have read and listened to some of Scott Moulton's work and truly do find it fascinating.

The drive spinning appears to indicate that I don't have a bad motor or a frozen spindle? The fact that the drive is not making any unusual noises seems to indicate that mechanically things are working?

I suppose knowing that this drive was exposed to moisture immediately throws a flag, which I guess is why I was thinking bad PCB. If not a bad PCB then firmware issue? and if it is a firmware issue is this in anyhow related to the moisture issue? or is this just a red herring?

Generally

Not at all

Did the drive stop working as a result of the moisture event? Is it possible that the user said "oh crap I just spilled water on my laptop" and yanked it up off the wet table quickly while it was still running?

Generally if there is some major fault with the PCB it is not going to still power on.

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

Head failure 90% for sure

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

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

Thanks, no I am not sure that they user did not jar the drive after discovering water. All I can say is that they didn't realize that water had even been an issue until after the laptop froze and they picked it up to move it (and found water puddled underneath).

I understand that we are attempting to make a diagnosis based on my (a noob's) observations. However pcimage thinks its a head failure?
I have been under the assumption that when you hear a drive "clicking" that this is a sign of a head issue (unable to read the SA). It makes sense that if the head is damaged that it would also not make any noise (assuming that it could not move).

Question - where is the drive information stored? ie when the system boots up the BIOS sees the model number, etc. Is this stored in the SA or is this stored on the PCB? I figured it would be on the PCB but it would make sense that if this was stored in the SA and the head was bad that this could not be read.
I believe that this may be where my misundertanding came from.

OK, then since I have gone this far I would assume that this would smell like a platter swap?

Is there anything else I can/should try? I am going to try mounting the drive under linux as I understand that it may be more forgiving than a windows system (the fact that this drive caused my windows machine to blue screen gives me small hope).

Granted I shouldn't experiment on a drive that I actually wish to recover data from, but if I can get confirmation (or advice on further narrowing this down to a platter swap fix) I may try to give this a go.

To quote myself from another thread less than eight hours ago,

No no no no no no no no no no no no NO.

This is not the solution. This is practically never the solution. Please stop thinking about moving platters (and encourage your friends and everyone else you know to do the same).

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

Ditto

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

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

thanks. I should say that I am thankful that a platter swap is not the solution (and I will stop advertising platter swaps .

I think that I have made small headway here with MHDD that I hope that I can get some advice on:
I have the drive connected to a host machine and running MHDD
When I scan the controllers I find 4 devices on the PCI controller:
6-working host drive
8-DVD
10-DVD
12- i think that this is the drive, sometimes it shows 0 in the size other times it is null

When I select 12
"Important Notice-this drive does not support LBA mode. MHDD will not work on this device"
When I select the EID it shows all NULLS.
Then I get a recal fail error before I get a chance to scan.

Would I be on the right track if i were to assume that there is an issue with the SA? would attempting to re-write the firmware on the drive be the next logical step? Would this allow me to scan the drive and continue?

No, and no.

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

PCB swap?

Have you read the rest of the thread?

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

Id get the PCB in kernel mode , get the rom, swap the pcb and heads and copy the original rom onto donor pcb. But u do need the tools and some head swapping experience for that m8.

This is very helpful, thank you.

As I have 0 head swapping experience would their be any point in and copying/moving the ROM to a donor PCB board and trying that prior to do anything with the heads?

Just fishing if there is anything more that i can try to do with my lack of experience as you point out.

Alexii - what did you mean by that m8? what is m8? is this a reference to the drive or to the head swap?