Hi,
I had two Samsung HD204UI drives in an external eSATA enclosure. I turned on the enclosure the other day and the both started clicking at once. My computer can't see them at first but if I leave them on for like 2 or 3 minutes the drive letters show up. However everything just hangs when I try to access them. I've never had two drives fail simultaneously like this and I can only assume that it is power related. I'm planning to buy another HD204UI off of eBay or something and try to swap the PCBs but I have two questions:

1. From what I read online, a fried PCB doesn't seem to cause clicking but I don't see how both drives could suffer mechanical damage at the same time (they have not been dropped or anything). Does anyone know if a burnt-out PCB can cause drive clicking?

2. Does anyone have any experience with swapping Samsung PCBs? What numbers should I be looking at as I look for donors?

Thanks for your time. Photos of the drives are below:

Drive 1


Drive 1 PCB


Drive 2


Drive 2 PCB

Look at your enclosure first.

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

Yeah, I forgot to mention that. I thought it was the enclosure too so I took out the drives and tried them in a eSATA-to-USB dock. Same thing: the drives spin up and then start clicking in a steady pattern.

Are you absolutely certain that the box has not been dropped? I mean did you have it with you all the time? We get lots of cases where people say the drive has not been dropped and we see obvious signs of damage from the hit against the floor. They don't lie; someone does it (kids, wife, dog) and don't come clean (well, the dog is excused).

IMHO, since drives spin up and click, PCB is the last suspect. A power failure can cause preamp damage (so, clicking). But I insist most likely someone dropped the box.

Can you try and hook 'em to a machine as internal SATA drives? Not via USB.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

Thanks for your response.

I can't be absolutely certain that it wasn't dropped but it's on my desk which is actually in a back corner office. It was all plugged in when came in that day and it's against a wall so you can't really bump it off accidentally. There are no signs of damage. I did move it around a bit a few days before (while it was off) but if just moving it a few feet did this to both drives that would be really sad.

I plugged one of them in internally but got the same exact clicking. I kinda want to try to swap the PCB with a donor but from what you said it sounds like I'd just be wasting my money. Is that correct?

One must perform accurate diagnostics to be sure, but I think you will be wasting your time and your money on a PCB swap.

IMHO and since it wasn't dropped, this can be caused by a power surge killing both drives. Not the best scenario for you, because this could involve head swaps etc, which can be handled only by a very seasoned tech (esp. for these drives, they can be very tricky).

Having said that, I think it's time for a pro to look at this. You can get a free evaluation and then decide if it's worth it.
On the other hand, you can try and swap pcb's but as i said i don't think it is the culprit and you would need to find a way in transferring adaptive data from patient board to donor.

Sorry mate.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners