Hi there,

Complete beginnner here...

A friend of mine has passed me a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 drive which was missing its circuit board.

The details of the drive are:

ST3320620AS
P/N: 98J14G-308
F/W: 3.AAJ
Site Code: TK
Date Code: 07266

He tried replacing it with a board from what he thought was an identical model but it turned out this was from one with a later firmware (AAK)

He (and I) have used a external SATA bay via USB to try and read the contents. It doesn't work but the disk does appear to be spinning.

Could someone please let me know if this will work, or if I need to buy a replacement board or if but putting this board on / powering it on it's caused irreperable damage?

I've search the forum and seen things like "freezing routine", "USB front port trick" but not really sure what they are (my searches on this don't seem to return any meaningful results). Also, there's mention of TSV which might(?) fix the issue but i'm not sure if it's relevant to this.

As I say I'm a real novice on this, so would appreciate any advice

Thanks

I think You have to find oryginal circuit board.

You can try donor boards the same P/N , model and FV but it is like lottery

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

By "FV", did you mean "FW" as in Firmware? Not entirely sure what you mean by "donor boards" either.

So there's nothing I can do with the board I have to get it to temporarily work?

Thanks again for the reply

FV = FW= Firmware . Sorry for that
Donor board is the board from another HDD . ( Patient is Your drive)
On the board is ROM chip that is unique for any HDD. Some part of the ROM are created under the manufacture process. That is why You need original board.

Thanks for the reply and for the clarification.

Looks like I'll have to continue looking for an exact match then. I have seen them but they're crazy expensive so thought I'd check here just in case there was some magic that could get it working with a different FW. I was really hopeful jusdgin by some of the other posts I'd read but looks like it's no to be.

Thanks for your help - it's really appreciated

In this situation You can also by HDD for parts for example with Bad sectors or defected heads. But remember it will be a lottery

_________________
Backup is Your best friend. Still learning English. Sorry for language bugs. My websites: Centrum Odzyskiwania Danych

Why you want to continue to look for a match?
You will never have access to data again if you don't have original ROM.

_________________
http://www.pclab.com.pt facebook.com/PCLAB.A.T
ACELab partner

Hi,

Sorry, I don't understand. Are you saying that even if I get a board from exactly the same drive with the same FW, it won't work?

Thanks

It won't. As I wrote - You can try but it is a lottery. 1/100000 or less chance.
PCLAB has right. Maybe I did not explain it very carefully.
The ROM is unique to the HDD not to the model or series.
You have to find the oryginal board. Even if the board is defected the rom chip can be ok. If You resolder it to another board it will work.

_________________
Backup is Your best friend. Still learning English. Sorry for language bugs. My websites: Centrum Odzyskiwania Danych

Yes you need ROM content from original pcb to rescue data. An exactly match will not help.
A few board members here can reconstruct some models of Seagate ROM, but it will not be cheap, if possible.

_________________
Digitalsupport Data Recovery
https://digitalsupport.dk

This is Barracuda 7200.10 (firmware has F architecture), there are no adaptives on rom, so it's not strictly necessary the original rom.
Just find same donor pcb as patient pcb, from identical drive with same fw version.
Also, donor ROM version needs to match with patient pcb, that would very likely match if donor is very similar to patient.
If donor ROM version will not match patient rom, than you might copy ROM in somehow from patient pcb (or download all types of rom you can find from internet for this drive) and write onto donor pcb (you will know when you'll find the exact match when you get access to your data), or just swap the chip physically.

P.S.
Drives which have F3 firmware architecture need original ROM (example Barracuda 7200.11) due to adaptives content.

_________________
My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI

Check also if MCU chip version is TTB4398A0 or V520AA

Give a look here:
https://www.hdd-parts.com/11150676.html
https://www.hdd-parts.com/11150342.html
https://www.hdd-parts.com/13010902.html

_________________
My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI

My bad... Didn't read well original post..

_________________
http://www.pclab.com.pt facebook.com/PCLAB.A.T
ACELab partner

Thank you Michael and Splidit for the detailed responses. I'm somewhat clueless in this area but your help is appreciated.

Michael - from your posts I've gathered that an exact matching board should be fine as long as the firmware is the same. I'm not sure what the relevance of the links you've provided is - is this something I need to look for on the PCB I may have to buy assuming flashing / other methods don't work?


Splidit - I've tried to follow your instructions but sadly it's too technical for me and there are a few basics where I'm failing.

You mentioned ST-10 firmware tools. I searched for SeDiv and downloaded the trial. When I ran it the AV software had a bit of a meltdown compaining it was malware infected. Temporarily disabling AV allowed me to run it but all it did was report a runtime error 217 at 00423E8A. Searching for the other tools seemed to result in hardware solutions (boxes that drives attach to) or is other software to purchase. I am assuming I have to buy something but don't know what. Google wasn't much help...

You then mentioned plugging to terminal (TTL) and from that point I was completely lost. I have no idea what this means (I'm guessing plugging it in via the USB hub?). Thank you for the reference links you posted - I assume these were to prove it's technically possible but not related to the drive I have?


With regards to firmware, both of you mention the possibility of flashing the PCB I already have. I tried to search HDDGuru Files for ST3320620AS 3.AAJ firmware but found no matches. I tried various combinations but and the closest I got were:

http://files.hddguru.com/download/Firmw ... s/Seagate/
but that only goes to 3.AAE

http://files.hddguru.com/download/PC-30 ... 207200.10/
but that only goes to 3.AAF

http://files.hddguru.com/index.php?acti ... eagate&SID
Doesn't mention anything about a specific firmware and not entirely sure what the EXE is meant to do.

Am I missing something? Even if I find it, do I need to purchase flashing software?

Again, I apologise for being totally clueless in this area but am very grateful for your input.

As you don't have the knowledge and proper tools, it's better to contact member Pcimage he's in Peterborough and can help you.

Regards/ Bosse

_________________
Rescue IT Datarecovery service Sweden
Rescue IT Dataräddning Göteborg AB
http://www.rescue-it.se

Can you provide all details about your hdd, patient pcb and donor pcb that you bought?
If you post all details (including PCBs version, sticker code, MCU version and from which type of hdd was taken donor pcb) then i can tell you if donor pcb is compatible or not for your drive.
If donor pcb that you bought is compatible with your drive, i can explain you how to work on ROM for make it work on your drive, but if is not compatible then you should buy from one of those 3 hdd-parts links that i've posted.



You need this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-to-CP2102- ... xy-j9SRw0V


With TTL adapter and a program like Sediv or a chineseware, you might be able to flash ROM on donor pcb.

You can try to flash donor pcb rom (if is identical to your patient pcb) with one of the followings:
http://files.hddguru.com/index.php?acti ... e/Tonka40&
http://files.hddguru.com/index.php?acti ... te/Tonka2&
http://files.hddguru.com/index.php?acti ... te/Tonka2&

_________________
My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI

This is a 3.AAE firmware update.


SF.EXE is SeaFlash. It is called by flash.bat. Flash.bat uses a single firmware payload for all Galaxy models, so ISTM that you could purchase any 3.AAJ PCB, irrespective of the drive capacity.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks you again for the responses.

I should have stated that I'm not in the UK at the moment which is why it hasn't been taken to a specialist (too difficult to explain in a foreign language). I would glady pay someone to sort this out for me if it were an option...

Michael - I have ordered the equivalent Ebay item which should arrive in the next few days.

The donor board was taken from a HDD with similar spec to the one missing the board.

Model: ST3320620AS (Both)
P/N: 98J14G-308 (Both)
F/W: Original (the one I want to fix / read) 3.AAJ, Donor: 3.AAK
Date Code: Original 07266, Donor 07402
Site Code: TK (both)

everything else looks the same

Info from the donor PCB board:

White sticker:
100436228 F 7739UDAZ

Big square chip:
V520AA
SEAGATE
AAZZAAA
9E638033
9917X (could be L not 1)
MYS 99 704

Recatange chip:
0706
3-2
48LC8M16A2
P -6A G

Small square chip:
SMOOTH
100369972
99OE9 VA
MYS 99 709

So is Sediv something I have to buy? There only seems to be a demo?


Thanks for the info on firmware and the links. I'm still confused though - they don't seem to match my model number. Does this matter?. Also, for the links to 3.AAE if the donor board is already running 3.AAK, isn;t this better?

Sorry for being such a noob.

Maybe we are going to far.
Answare this. If the HDD spinning -do you hear any strange sounds like clicking. If not ? Is the disk reporting in the computer bios.

_________________
Backup is Your best friend. Still learning English. Sorry for language bugs. My websites: Centrum Odzyskiwania Danych

So, you mean that also patient pcb (broken/lost pcb) has the followings?
White sticker: 100436228
MCU: V520AA

If your donor pcb has same sticker and MCU code of patient pcb, then you just need to flash donor rom by downloading somewhere same rom code of your patient drive, or swap the rom chip by using hot air soldering station.

You don't need sediv if you first don't find ROM resourse from same identical hard drive as your.
Also, sediv is expensive, in your case i would outsource patient pcb to someone that can do this job for you al low price or do it by your own by using TTL adapter + chineseware as STcom
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?p=2875#p2875

Or, just wait that you receive identical donor pcb from identical drive as your and hope that it has same rom version

As already standed Spildit, you don't necessary need to match model drive to make match ROM.
Problem is that would be much more tough to find a matching rom if you don't get an identical drive.

_________________
My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI