My PSU died and when I was trying to turn on my PC I notices that my hard disk had died too. He doesn't make any sound, he doesn't receive power, It doesn't spin...NOTHING. I guess it could be the PCB but it doesn't have a particular smell of something burned. I send it to a electronic technician and he measured and it seems that a diode was shorted, but i don't know if he tried to replace it or what, but he didn't even charge for the service, I guess he did nothing. He told me that it has an internal problem (He doesn't spin...No power!!! how can he know that
? I guess he didn't want to work on it)

Well I have a donor, but I don't know what to do, I have read they have to match with the two lines of a sticker he has behind, also other things. I also hear they have to swap the NVRAM. I would like more info about it. I will post some pictures here. Plase I would like to recover some info but the companies who do this charge a lot of money. I would like to inform myself in order to guide a technician about this particular model, where I live, they don't usually repair hard drives. Thanks in advance!!!

The NVRAM is the 8-pin IC at location U5 at the right side of the PCB. This chip will need to be transferred to your donor board.

As for the shorted diode, do you have a multimeter? Did the technician tell you which diode was shorted? Diode D2 near the front left corner of the board appears to be a 12V TVS diode.

See http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/TVS_diode_FAQ.html

There are several photo clips here:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for your reply Fzabkar. I wonder if I have to find a donor that match exactly with the letters on the labels or can I swap the pcb with the same model and size even though they don't match perfectly? If i have a donor I just need to change the NVRAM? If the diode is shorted on the old PCB, is there a way to make it work without swaping? I have read that I have to remove it but having in mind that is not going to be protected anymore. Well, I hope you can helpme cause I don't want to buy the donor not being sure of what to do. Thanks bro!!!

The following site has PCB matching information:
http://www.donordrives.com/hard-drive-p ... swap-match
http://www.donordrives.com/blog/pcbswapguide

My TVS diode FAQ tells you what to do in regard to your diode. It also explains how to use a multimeter.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

I have found a donor for my PCB, It matches the two lines on the sticker and I am going to send it to a technician for making the NVRAM change. But I wonder if this change could damaged the new pcb. Somebody told me than if the motor or the heads has problems they're gonna damaged the new PCB. Is that true? If I put the NVRAM back on the donor, can I use it again as it was?

How can I try to repair the old PCB? Where I have to measure? I haven't tried removing the D2 diode.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Daniel

My FAQ has the required information. After you have measured the diode, then we will be able to narrow down the problem.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

C17 and C18 don't measure anything. The TVS are right.

Change the PCB and the NVRAM from donor to patient. Hard Disk is not working, not sounds, no spin, nothing.

What this could be? Damaged motor?

No.

Measure the resistance across the motor coil pairs. But I would doubt that the motor is the problem. My guess is that U5 was, or is now, damaged.

_________________
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Data Recovery Cape Town

My guess is something worse.

Preamp

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

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

Bingo !

What's preamp?

He is spinning now but the board don't recognize it. I won't try to repair it anymore. Thanks you all for helping me.

I'm confused. First, with the new PCB, you say it's not spinning. Now you say it is spinning?

_________________
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Data Recovery Cape Town

The data cable (motor) was not properly atached I did it and started to spin, but it wasn't detected by the computer. I am going to send it to a pro. Thanks. I already gave up!

Good choice on this one. Glad to hear that you have given up before something else can happen and you can end up spending twice the amount to get back your data. As it is now should not be too bad for you on this one. Or by what you say I am guessing it should not be too bad on this one to fix it and get back your data. Good luck let us know how it turned out for you

_________________
Iorana Haraharaini