Hey there - any help is greatly appreciated for this matter!!

Western Digital 2TB - WD20EARS

Drive won't power up after the computer crashed over night. The hard drive did not have any signs of errors or indications that it was dying through clicking sounds etc. I assumed it was the PCB that was burnt out, so I went ahead and got an exact clone/version of PCB and transferred over the BIOS IC. Didn't do the trick.

I figured the drive then had stiction, so the drive was opened up (in a clean room) but the head was in it's proper location to the very right, and the platters move freely. If the drive is given power, the platters DO spin now. Only the platters spin and no movement of the head was shown. If the cover is placed back on the hard drive, it will not power up. Only if it is removed will it power up again.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what is wrong, or what can be done to recover the hard-drive, it would be greatly appreciated. I am quite handy and have no qualms if there is a DIY or something of that sort.

most likely the preamp on the head stack is dead, no something you can tackle, use a DR company for proper diagnostic, is several DR companies in your area.

Thank you for the suggestion! But I'm sorry, why is that something I can't tackle? Purchasing an identical hard drive for a donor and replacing the head is something I DO feel comfortable with. There are also plenty of video's online of people doing this and showing the procedure.

Taking apart and reassembling a hard drive is not as difficult or as complicated as people make it out to be and I'd rather not spend $800-$1500 when I'm capable and handy myself, thanks very much

Anyone else have any other suggestions or input?

It might help to analyse the failure of the original PCB. That could give us a clue as to whether the preamp is likely to have been damaged.

I can't understand what's happening with the cover, though. Does the drive spin up if you isolate the HDA contacts with a business card?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Well to be honest, I don't know if the original PCB has failed. I just replaced it because it was the simplest and most likely issue at the time. What's a good way of testing the original PCB to see if the preamp is dead? (btw, there are no signs of burn marks, or odd smells anywhere)

I think the spin up has something to do with detecting the internal pressure of the drive and if there isn't that pressure, it spins to maximum. Otherwise it doesn't power up if it detects another issue somewhere. Again, this is just a guess by me and as a partial explanation by someone else I talked to... Either way, the main motor works which means the PCB works.

It sounds like the preamp is the culprit however - just to make sure, if the preamp does fail, do most drives not spin up as a result?

Some drives won't spin up if they can't detect a functioning preamp whereas others will spin up regardless. Have you tried the business card test?

As for testing the PCB, upload detailed photo and I'll show you the test points.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

The cover is likely what is used to keep pressure where the preamp meets the PCB (some models like this). Which explains why it won't spin up with the cover on (short circuited head(s)).

I'd say it almost definitely needs new heads. Though now you may also have destroyed the PCB and ROM code further complicating things.

If the data is important, take it to a professional. Head swaps may look easy in those youtube videos, but trust me you've got about a 0.002% chance of making it work if you DIY. Even after a perfectly executed headswap you'll almost certainly need proper equipment (AKA PC-3000) to extract the data.

These guys aren't kidding about that.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

I'd suggest you take it to these guys in your area: http://www.recoveryforce.com/

Luke will take care of you.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

??? The cover is on the opposite side of the PCB. It attaches to the headstack, but it does not make any contact with the HDA connector.


The drive spins, so the ROM must be OK.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I'm a firm believer that anyone can do this rather just companies working in a sort of Cartel, keeping service prices high and taking advantage of people who are in need to save their priceless data. I'd rather try and learn and fix the problem myself than throw money at it. Thanks.

It does look like the heads are fine to be honest, and it's the preamp that's most likely the issue. There was no clicking sounds or anything to indicate the heads were broken... it was even settled all the way to the right on its dock and not on the spindles.

Did this drive come out of an external enclosure?

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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

It's an internal drive, no external enclosure

Have you done one yet?

I believe you are referring to things like Scott Moultons videos.

He himself says that students in his class with him standing there next to the instructing rarely get the drive working on the first second or third try. usually after the 4th or 5th some students have success and by 10 drives at least 90% do.

So you might want to be a little cautious, and I would suggest, STRONGLY, that you get a few drives and only after you have success you try it on yours.

I fully support giving it a go, if you have all the relevant information, parts, environment and experience(the test drives)

Scotts podcasts are a good source for general knowledge for the DIYer, I would recommend listening and weighing up the advice for yourself.

1 tiny slip with ANYTHING and you have just caused yourself major headache.

Also Scott mentions about the WD Drives and the cover, and that the screw that goes into the headstack makes it a lot harder.
Podcast number 4 entitled "Don't open a Western Digital Drive!" http://podnutz.com/mhdd004

You might want to listen to him directly (I know some people on here give Scott curry, but I think information should be listened to and evaluated yourself, but not just dissed for no good reason.)
http://podnutz.com/myharddrivedied



Also it would be pretty interesting and helpful for other DIYers if you could document how you went and the results/challenges etc.

Good Luck

Measure the voltages at L1, L2, and the anode of D2.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

+1 data-medics