Hello, I have an external Western Digital WD7500KMVV - 11BG7S0

Six weeks ago my drive started playing up. The problems began with a message along the lines - your drive can work faster by connecting it to a USB2 port. I then attached it via a different cable and it worked fine. Unfortunately that was the last time I was able to access the hard-drive. Now whenever I attach the drive the light flashes a few times, the drive starts spinning and after a few seconds the spinning winds down and the light stays on. There is no unusual smell or unusual sounds. I have also tried different PCs with various cables all without success.

I then bought a PCB from a PCB seller who assured me it was compatible unfortunately it did not work.

My original PCB number is 2061-701675-304 06P XM A526 FAXE 2 0006120 1 126
The replacement is 2061-701675-001 003PD4 XC AD13OL38 8 0001140 0141

When I attached the replacement PCB the light flashed and the drive clicked the following pattern 6 - 2 - 2 and was then repeated. The drive was not recognised by the PC.

Can someone explain what makes a PCB compatible and what else maybe required?

TIA.

If the drive spins up (albeit briefly) then the PCB is unlikely to be the issue.

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Even if the replacement PCB had identical numbers, it would still not be "compatible". This is because each board stores unique, drive specific "adaptive" data in flash memory. These data need to be transferred to your replacement PCB. Some suppliers will do this for you for free, while others charge US$10. Alternatively, your TV/AV repair shop should be able to do it for you (assuming there is an 8-pin chip at U12).

That said, if your drive does not spin up with the replacement PCB, then it may be that it has a stiction fault (heads stuck to platters). However, this would not explain why it was spinning initially.

Note that some USB ports cannot provide enough current to spin up the drive, in which case you could try to pick up power from two USB ports using a Y-cable. There are also numerous reports at WD's forums of USB connection problems with the flimsy micro-USB connector.

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