Firstly, I'd like to say hello to everyone on the forum!

I've got a Western Digital WD5000AAVS hard drive which has come out of a WD MyBook enclosure, as far as I'm aware it has not been subjected to any over voltage.

The drive is not detected by BIOS and it does not spin up or make any sound whatsoever.

I've used a multi-meter in diode test mode to attempt to test the D3 and D4 diodes, electronics are not really my thing so if possible could someone please take a look at my results to confirm that there does not appear to be anything wrong with them?

Here is a picture of the board: http://www.ramsdens.org.uk/images/DSCN3409.JPG

Looking at the logic board, interface to the top, the D3 diode is on the left and the D4 is on the right.

D4 - Red probe left / black probe right - Reading on multimeter: 1.546
D4 - Black probe left / red probe right - Reading on multimeter: .543

D3 - Red probe left / black probe right - Reading on multimeter: .0L
D3 - Black probe left / red probe right - Reading on multimeter: .458

Do these reading seem OK?

I can obtain a replacement PCB from the USA but I imaging I would need to have the marvell chip removed from the dead board and placed onto the donor board, which appears to be a specialist job!

Thanks in advance,

Colin.

I don't have time to hand-hold though the whole process, but here are a few comments for you to consider at your own risk.


Although I wouldn't use the "diode testing" range (because you are testing "in-circuit"), those readings do not show an obvious TVS problem, IMHO.

If you are really sure that you are happy taking the risks of DIY (since you say that electronics isn't really your "thing" e.g. I doubt you are taking full ESD precautions), and therefore if you accept that you could make the situation much worse / more expensive / or at worst unrecoverable, due to human error, or even just bad luck etc., then one possibility to consider seems to be a power problem inside your WD enclosure - unless you have already eliminated that possibility somehow

To limit the risks to your existing drive, you could put another drive (which you don't mind risking, so it must be an unimportant drive) into that enclosure, and see if that drive spins-up. There are several different approaches...

Yes I do take ESD precautions, I just generally avoid anything that involves using multi-meters or even worse, soldering.

AFAIK, the caddy is long gone, The bare drive was connected to a Tableau T35i where it did nothing, the drive was then connected directly to the interal SATA port of a computer where it was then verified that it was not seen by the machines BIOS.

Would it be worth connecting this drive to the SalvationData WD Doctor? I have not tried this yet as it's at work and as the BIOS did not show anything, I suppose the WD Doctor will not either?

Thanks,

Colin.

Oh dear, so I wasted my time writing my last reply, due to there being additional test results not mentioned originally. I don't use the SD tools, so I'll cut my losses here and perhaps other members will help you.

[Edited to add: Perhaps the full history of the original use of the MyBook enclosure will help others attempting to provide remote diagnosis - e.g. was it dropped/knocked? Any faint sounds from the drive at all (even though it doesn't spin-up)? Any other details that are known but not yet supplied?]

Vulcan, I really don't understand your problem, not to mention your constant attempts to belittle people who post on these forums. Maybe you are so much of a genius that nobody else matters?

People generally post on forums for assistance, not to be spoken to like fools.

So in reallity, where did you waste your time, I made it quite clear in my first post that the drive had come out of a WD enclosure and that the BIOS would not see the drive, I did not mention anywhere that I had placed the drive back inside the WD enclosure and attempted to find it in the BIOS as that would be a rather stupid thing to do.

"The drive is not detected by BIOS and it does not spin up or make any sound whatsoever."

Unless you have anything constructive to add, please keep your comments to yourself.

I may not be any good when it comes to electronics, but I do have an attitude fix solution for you, that would involve taking a trip to your local 'lively' public house and 'gobbing off' to the natives in the manner that you do on here, and see how long it takes before you are picking your teeth up from the floor.

You should take a leaf out of fzabkar's book, he is nothing but totally helpful in his replies.

Wow. Vulcan is probably the most consistently helpful person here. Good luck, buddy.

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@colinr,


*sigh* It's a shame that I seem to have upset you, and led to you now insulting me. Far from belittling people, I try to assist when I have the time, but I have NO IDEA of your skills (nor attitude ) with you being a new poster on the forum, and I don't like my time being wasted due to ambiguous or missing details.


Yes, and many people have no ideas of the risks involved (of many different types) when working with disks. I did not deliberately speak to you like a fool, but your comments sounded like you were unsure of your abilities, and the risks you are taking with any DIY attempt. You also omitted vital information in your first posting, IMHO. If it had been clear, I would not have wasted my time giving an inappropriate first reply.


That's exactly the type of thing which some people do! I can't see what you did! And remember, many new PCs will show USB-attached disks in the BIOS list of bootable devices - that is what I thought you meant, as I interpreted your comments as meaning that the drive was back in the original enclosure but not showing in the BIOS (list of bootable disks). You hadn't explained clearly what tests you had done, until your later comment. My bad, I could have guessed differently, but you could have helped by giving all of your test results in your initial posting, couldn't you..?


I did try to help you, and I did answer your question about your multimeter readings. So with the information you provided I did the best that I could, but due to a simple misunderstanding about where the drive was being tested and lack of details which you later provided, I wasted my time writing useless test suggestions, whilst warning of the risks that you seem to interpret as treating you like a fool, which was never the intention. I expect other members will consider how you have reacted, when deciding whether to help you. I wish you no ill will (despite your comments) - good luck with that disk.

@drc,

Thanks, I appreciate the support

Vulcan, I appologise for being hasty, it's how I read your posts.

Sorry mate.

Vulcan is definitely an asset to this forum, always kind and helpful to everyone, and I wish I had 1/2 of his knowledge in specific areas.

Therefore, I'm afraid such behaviour is not tolerated.

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That's very kind of you to say, Nothwind, thanks for that support. As you know, my work overlaps some DR-related areas, and I'm happy to try to assist in those areas where I have skills, but I certainly never claim to have the experience & specialist skills of you and the other respected DR pros in the forum.

In this case, if only the OP had mentioned the word "SATA" in the first posting, then it would have been clear how to interpret some of the other points (or at least made me realise the possibility of some ambiguity) - but unfortunately SATA was only mentioned later. I didn't spot the ambiguity in the original posting, so I misinterpreted what was being described, and so wasted my time (and the OP's) giving inappropriate suggestions. So I've learned my lesson to reduce this risk - give fewer replies & ask more questions, even when the situation seems clear.

As we've seen before on other threads - if a member gives (what some people call too many) warnings, then we can be accused of treating people like fools; but if we don't give (what some people call enough) warnings, then we can be accused of taking chances with people's data, by not warning them of the risks. It's a "no win" scenario! This is one of the problems with attempting remote assistance (e.g. via a web forum), as we cannot know enough about a poster's abilities, skills, experience etc. to be sure to guess correctly, to then give (what the poster perceives to be) an appropriate level of warnings. On this occasion, I guessed wrong and upset the OP.

Oh well, we can only try our best - no-one is perfect. Again, thanks!

Simon, my partners after reading a few posts, have suggested I stop posting on the forum, except when the situation is very clear, because it could harm our reputation and cause more harm to us than good to others.

I still stand against this, but more threads like this will get me silent.

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Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners