MDL: WD1200JB - 00GVC0
DCM: DSCHCTJAA
Sticker: 2061-701265-200 AH
Board: 2060-701265-001 REV A

I read that there were other compatible boards for this drive?
I would like to find the exact right board (or definitely compatible) for an easy swap without changing anything.

More details:

Drive appears dead, no sign of life, happened when local PC shop hooked it up to transfer data!
Had a quick look at ebay and maybe there's 1 or 2 in the US that might work, just wanted to be sure this controller board swap will work OK.
I work in IT and nearest I can find at work is some old WD400 drives (sata) - didn't bother checking further details yet, just starting with this drive recovery.
Attempting repair of this drive for a friend who wants all the pictures of his rock band from the last 20 years recovering! (I know - backups right)!

There are so many ROM revisions and different head maps that you would be better off buying another pcb and getting someone with the knowledge to replace the ROM. The 40 GB drives may not be compatible and you risk further damage.

_________________
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you probably don't fully understand the situation. ... Mr Kipling

https://www.mjm.co.uk/

Would the following PCB work:

WD1200JB-00GVA0, 2061-701265-200 AH

It's 00GVA0 and my drive is 00GVC0

Thanks

That board will work perfectly!
You will have to transfer the rom located at U12 from the patient to the donor.
Not a task you should attempt if you don't have the experience or correct tools!

Update:

MY donor board finally arrived and i've noticed a small difference:

WD1200JB-00GVC0, 2061-701265-200 AJ - It's AJ and not AH like the original...

So, I tried it anyway - it now boots up and spins but does a single big click every 4-5 seconds and then tries again, nothing is recognised by PC.

I imagine the U12 swap is the final step now - good or bad chance of working?

Original PCB has several pins burnt out on SMOOTH chip!

You may want to confirm that the donor PCB still works properly by testing back on the donor. It should, but based on what you said about SMOOTH, there may be other complexities involved.

If the donor PCB still works fine on the donor drive, then keep going on with the old plan.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Good idea, will test donor drive tonight!

Attached a pic of the damaged chip...