Hey all,

I was wondering if I could get some advice on a Drive? Issue happened 5 or so years ago but I'm revisiting it:

WD2500JB used inside computer as a slave. Had a power outage, turned computer back on and Windows showed the drive as having no partitions.
I didn't want to risk a DIY DR attempt so I sent it to Fields Data Recovery who quoted me £250 to fix the drive and supply a new 250GB. I now know this was very cheap but at the time I couldn't afford it.
Fields returned the drive but kindly forgot to include the PCB and didn't respond to my emails.
Over the past few years I've tried powering the drive on with PCB’s from other 2500JB drives - I repair computers so I see them every now and again. The drive spins and doesn't make any strange noises but it shows in device manager / bios as WD Rom. From the reading I've done this is because of incompatible firmware and different adaptive information; I've also read that doing this to often can damage the preamp because of the different adaptive information?

Is there any hope for this drive without the original PCB? Obviously I'd prefer a DIY solution (I have a feeling that I could have resolved the no partition issue with DR software) but I'm guessing this is going to be much harder now that I don't have the PCB?
I'm posting this now because I do have some money that I could put towards getting the data recovered but to be honest the data is worth fairly little to me now (Low £££) since I've lived without it for years. Is the lack of the PCB going to make this job dramatically more expensive?

Any thoughts would be great although I'm guessing that I'm not going to be getting any good news.

Cheers.

Are you willing to spend the original £250 now?

DIY is not an option for you now, sorry to say

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

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

The only DIY-friendly and most of all FREE solution is to keep on living without that data.

The key to the cost is whether just the PCB was involved, or if the preamp failed with the power surge as well.

Pro gear, a good library of firmware, and plenty of knowledge and experience are required to properly diagnose the drive, obtain a suitable PCB, and program it with "the right stuff."

It's certainly not a DIY recovery at this point -- and maybe never was.

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

I have an opposite feeling instead but now it's too late. Oh, in any case if it was me doing the DIY, yes it was and is possible. But it is another story

Hi,

I would be able to afford the £250 now. Is it doable at that price?

Cheers.

Assuming the preamp is ok, then I'm sure we could work a deal

Drop me a PM or email.

Sean

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

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

Fields has featured in many threads in this forum.

For example, see too-good-true-t14682.html

As for your board, the following PCB supplier offers a free PCB adaptation service, at least under some circumstances:
http://www.donordrives.com/services

Contact forum member porthas.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Resolved; thank you pcimage.

And what PCB should he/she send to donordrives for the adaptation services?

_________________
Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

The rest of the drive....

Donor Drives offers several services. One is a firmware transfer service where the "ROM" contents of the customer's PCB are transferred to the vendor's PCB. If this cannot be done, then Donor Drives, wherever possible, provides a "PCB adaptation service". In this case the ROM contents of the vendor's PCB are rebuilt from the information on the customer's drive.

Porthas explains his services in more detail here:
all-those-folks-with-burned-pcbs-look-here-t24519.html

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

In a nutshell, desolder and resolder a soic chip (your) on the replacement board you buy. Everything else : send the drive in and it is at extra price, and the job can also be outsourced. Is it?