Hello:

I just had to buy a new PSU after a fly decided to commit suicide by bridging two AC contacts on the solder side of the old one.
When I finally installed the new one, I stupidly decided to use the old modular cables because I didn't feel like bending the new ones into shape again. I got lots of smoke and sparkles. Great!

PSU -> SATA
3.3v -> 12v yellow wire (meh)
5v -> 3.3v orange wire (oops!)
12v -> 5v red wire (DAMN!)
Thank you, PSU makers, for not standardizing the pinout for the one connector every one of you uses. THANK YOU!
A hard learned lesson indeed.

The results:
4 HDDs and 1 ODD fried, and 1 SSD still alive (I assume it only consumes 3.3v and could resist the 5 volts?)

Once you are done laughing at my stupidity, please, continue reading, perhaps you can help me.

So, I want to recover the data on these 4 disks. I was thinking of finding replacement PCBs, since the platters didn't even get a chance at spinning up, so, I guess there shouldn't be any damage there. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've never performed this, and I've read some info that it's not so simple for some HDD models, so here are the model numbers.
1x 200GB Maxtor 6L200M0
1x 500GB Seagate ST3500630AS
2x 1TB Seagate ST31000524AS
I can provide futher details and even pictures if needed.

The 200 GB and 500 GB drives are old, I can't remember when I bought them. The 200GB is probably more than 10 years old, and the 500GB maybe close to that.
The 2x 1TB drives were bought toghether in march-april 2011 for my current PC build.

Anyone with experience swapping boards with these models?
A certain site that sells PCBs for data recovery ($50 each, plus shipping) mentions that drives from up to 2008 tend to accept this kind of swap more easily than newer models, which, they say, REQUIRE that you also transfer something from the old PCB (hoping it's not dead) to the replacement one. Is this true?
Does it seem like a PCB swap will work in my case?

A last note:
I attempted a repair on one of the 1TB drives. I unscrewed the PCB and it seemed like there were small SMD fuses (?) on the power input lines, which were burnt. So, assuming that these had stopped the hit, I soldered small pieces of wire in their stead, hoping that now, with the correct power wires, it would work. I only got more smoke, so I either did something wrong, or there was more damage than just the fuses (assuming they were fuses). Haven't tried anything with the other 1TB or the older drives. I'm not an expert at electronics, and probably shouldn't be playing arround, but it seemed like a safe bet. Oh well. Still no spinups, so I'm assuming the drive is still OK inside.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Hello Radon,

Maxtor (in this model) a direct change of pcb should work.

in Seagate (in these models) can not be a direct change, you need to transfer the rom .

But maybe they can be repaired.

You can post pictures of the PCB´s ?

Look for shorted 5V TVS diodes.

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/TVS_diode_FAQ.html
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/ST ... AS_TVS.jpg

Maxtor 6L200M0:
http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-144375849714 ... oard-4.gif

Check CR203 on the Maxtor PCB (5V TVS diode). CR201 is the 12V diode.

The ST3500630AS diodes are shown in the attachment.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

@colanco took a while, but here they are. thank you for taking a look. Sorry for the quality on some, I don't have a proper camera.

#1 6L200M0 http://imgur.com/a/dNjzU (notice the burned chip)

#2 ST3500630AS http://imgur.com/a/HI6P0

#3 ST31000524AS (STORE) http://imgur.com/6fvRs1o&x5oos5W&V2987k ... Rj&Hi6LrFa
I attempted the unsuccessful repair on this one. Also, for some reason IMGUR didn't give me a proper album URL this time. Tell me if you think I should reupload.

#4 ST31000524AS (SISTEMA) http://imgur.com/a/Auhaj

@fzabkar thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately, as you can see in the pictures, at least one of the ICs burned up
that disk also contains the least interesting data, too, although I would want it back too, if possible.

@radorn, what did you find when you measured the TVS diodes?

Why do think that linking an inductor is sufficient when the 5V TVS diode is obviously shorted?

Your Maxtor board differs from the one I found. Yours does not have any protection. That's why it burned.

If you cannot follow the instructions in my FAQ, then either send your drives to a DR shop, or purchase a replacement PCB, with firmware transfer, from a vendor such as hdd-parts.com. That will cost you around US$200.

Best of luck.

BTW, here are your missing images:

http://i.imgur.com/6fvRs1o.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/x5oos5W.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/V2987ke.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/kNv1PlM.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/eg9AeHl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/BvKY0Gu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/K8JdtX7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/r8E3uWJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/z5N0S46.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/a0J6jeO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/lRzW3Wk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wKpQv1j.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/06zbJRj.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Hi6LrFa.jpg

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

@fzabkar Sorry, it was late and I missed everything but the fact that you had mentioned the Maxtor drive (which burned) and messing around with it more.

Now I have checked your links a bit more. So, basically, you are saying that just removing the affected TVSs and bridging the burned inductors will allow the drive to run, though unprotected, assuming they succeded in protecting the rest of the PCB?

My repair attempt was done before posting here, as I assumed the smds were fuses. This is the first time I hear about TVS diodes.

The Maxtor , your best solution is to get a compatible pcb and a little luck .

Seagate is likely to be solved by following the advice of fzabkar (remove TVS damaged and bridge burned inductors).

Note that this process has its risks and could cause more damage.

En SEAGATE it is quite safe , but not always ....

Sorry for the late reply. I just now got arround to attempt this repair.
The Maxtor drive will have to wait for a new board, but so far I've got the 500GB drive and one of the 1TB Seagate drives (the one where I already had bridged the exploded inductors which I mistook for fuses) to work by just snipping out the 5V TVS diodes.

Thank you very much for your help, fzabkar and colanco.

I will try to get a new drive to transfer all the contents to, which I already wanted to do, but now with more reason. I'll leave these drives for minor, non critical jobs now.