Hiya there
Still pretty new here and have a thirst for knowledge so excuse the questions...

Rather than taking the chips and transplanting them to a new board, cant you read them and flash it to a new chip? Or is it that you can only read the chips if they not programmable....?

Cheers

If the Rom is on the 8 legged chip then its easier to desolder & move accross to a donor drive.
If the Rom is embedded then you need specialist tools like PC3000 UDMA, Atola or Salvation Data Disk Doctor.

Loki

Sorry - i dont understand what embedded means....?
Is that where the info is on the disk itself?

Im learning.... Mine of information this site is

Some PCB boards have the unique drive info on a larger chip ie that has a big M on it. This chip would be dificult to desolder & swap due the to amount of pin/legs it has. Also if you damaged it in the process it would require a dr pro & be costly, if it could be done at all?


Loki

What about chipquik desolder, would that work in this case?

Getting a sample of this stuff to see how it performs, will let you know how testing goes.

Best Logical

Yes, if you have the skills, it's cheaper to just desolder and resolder, but you risk damaging the chip. We use Chipquick on some cases and an infrared solder station on others. I prefer just moving the chip, especially in cases where there is substantial damage to the pcb.

Here is a way to read/write the chips in-circuit using a device programmer:
read-write-serial-flash-wdc-logic-boards-t7192.html

Alternatively, you could use PonyProg freeware, but you will need to build a simple interface circuit:
http://www.lancos.com/prog.html

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.