I have a Seagate 500GB drive from an iomega enclosure that is refusing to spin up.
I hear it trying (slight whirr, pause, slight whirr, pause, etc), but it won't budge. I tried "swinging it like a frisbee" after hearing that the lateral motion can sometimes free stuck platters, but that didn't help. I've heard of the freezer trick, but that's mostly for drives that are spinning but not reading as I understand it (besides, I tried it and didn't help).

So the superficial non-destructive fixes didn't help, time to start taking this apart. Would my next step be to try and replace the PCB on the bottom? The one listed here says:
100468972

Does anyone know where I can find such a PCB to replace? I've seen on another forum that sometimes replacing just the PCB with an identical one isn't compatible on this type of drive, although I don't understand why. Something about an EPROM needing a programming change? Does that make any sense? I'm open to anything at this point. Thanks!

99.99999% pcb will not work. If it is trying to spin (i.e. whirr noises) i bet dollars to donuts it is a seized motor.

If the data is important , send it to a pro. It will require a Platter swap or a Motor assembly swap, both of which are not DIY.

Was the drive dropped or knocked over?...

Drat. And that's probably expensive, right?

No, it was not dropped. It was working fine last night.

I was sitting down to work on a project late, and as of about 2am it was working fine in the original iomega enclosure. The enclosure was sitting on a shelf, with 3 other drives beside it. I woke up this morning and tried to turn on the computer, noticing that the drive wouldn't start.

I know anything with moving parts has a mean time between failure, but I wasn't prepared for this to happen right now (not everything was backed up).

Agree with Cleanroom. If the 'whirr' noise is what I think you're explaining (I'd call it more of a low frequency buzz or hum) then it's most likely a seized motor. Sure it wasn't dropped or knocked? Very slight chance that it's stiction where the heads have parked in the middle of the platters and are stuck there, stopping the motor from spinning up, but not very likely.

Either way this is a pro job. Send it to a DR company.

Also, stop with the attempts at throwing it like a frisbee and putting it in the freezer, all of these are only asking for more trouble.

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Point taken.

It's not a PCB problem, neither a seized motor. Just heads landed on the disk surface. It will take about 10 min to a pro to open the drive and fix the problem. Some amount of the data might be lost.

You can get a 2nd hand PCB, but you need to know all info above your HDD. Due to most of the PCB BIOS not the same, once you got the PCB you need chagred and try. If doesn't work you need to remove your old PCB BIOS to replaced your new PCB. Then all done.

As said in previous posts, this is definitely NOT a PCB problem.
I agree with Cleanroom, this sounds like a seized motor. PRO job.



How can you tell it's not seized motor and definitely a stiction? Just wondering.

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I agreed with what you said, but he don't stary with PCB ! He need to send the HDD to Seagate or those Data Recover Company & you should know how they will charged !

Besides, most of the Seagate ST3xxxAS 7200.1x (PCB 10466824) HDD got programs with Firmware !

Yes of course they will charge, because if it's a jammed motor then it's a very complex job. And no, you can't generalise and say that "most of the Seagate ST3xxxAS 7200.1x have firmware problems" unless you are referring to 7200.11 FW:SD15.

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Very very good brother, your knew 7200.11 got programs, quite a lot of user can't used it over 6 months ! Then what you suggested ? >.<

it is rare to see the desktop Seagate's have the heads stuck tot he platters. The laptop version, i see it all the time, but pretty much never on the desktop models.

If you have not opened the drive yet, most reputable DR companies will give you a free evaluation.

Good Luck

A question for BGman. Does "BG" reffers to Belgrade or Bulgaria?