I have opened inside of my WD HDD and I found that the preamp seem not burned or have any physical damage on it. Can I determine the HSA do not have damage and the PCB's picture showed above only burned the SMOOTH chip caused by the overvoltage in the incident?
Should I going to the direction of what HddDonorMarket said? But I have not backup the ROM before.. is my HDD repairable on this stage or it is impossible to finish it personally(without professional tool like PC-3000) and I should give up right now?

Hello,

Determining wether the preamp is toasted is not done by visual inspection and opening up the hda in the first stage.
You need a multimeter to measure resistance between supply lines and GND.

I made a quick search, there were several topics negotiating this issue, just two of them:

https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php ... eck+preamp
https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php ... amp#p39024

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Measure the resistance of diode D3 as per the instructions in my FAQ. If it measures 0.0 ohms, then the overvoltage struck the 5V input. The damage to the SMOOTH chip is on the +5V side rather than +12V, so this would confirm that the preamp's 5V supply has been overvolted.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Tell me one thing: why it isn't more informative to measure the preamp instead of the pcb? We don't care about the pcb, we want info about the preamp, especially its power supply lines. There are a couple of topics on the forum as i mentioned, which provide additional info about how to do that.
Pcb may be informative as you wrote, but preamp is ten times more informative.
Btw, if the power lines were interchanged, we can be sure the 5V line got overvoltage, coz the 12v line does not get burtn by the 5V it got.
So it is pretty much sure the 5V line is toasted and since the protection is a pile of crap by design, the preamp was fed with 12 volts, which is more than enough for it.
Checking R67 for continuity can confirm or traverse my words btw. if it is blown, the preamp is 99% blown as well.
If it's not, we still need to check the preamp. So at the end of the day we need to check the preamp anyway


pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

I don't disagree with you. In fact I could probably find a dozen threads where I've identfied the preamp test points for others. I'm just offering an easier alternative, if not a conclusive one, should your suggestion prove to be too difficult. In fact I wonder how many DR people would be able to find the preamp test points and know what to do with them?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks pepe and fzabkar replied for help above.
According to fzabkar advise, I get 0.16 and 0.03 ohms of resistance of diode D3 at my fault WD' PCB. And get 24.65k ohms of the donor's one. Seem 5V overvoltage struck can be confirm.
And I going to measure the resistance between the Gnd pin and each of the +5V and -5V pins as following mikail13's post did to make confirmation of the whether preamp is dead.
https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35193

But now I stuck in how to finding those pin correctly in my WD PCB
https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php ... mp#p271841
https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=12319
With the above post help. I still can't confirm the pins by myself(lack of knowledge). Please help to check am I pointing right as following pictures:

(Seem I get the -5V pin wrong as I can't measure anything)
And when I can get the result similar like what mikail13's post got, then I can confirm the preamp is blown by overvoltage of 5V and I have to replace it? Thank all of you.

Please check that the Gnd pad does indeed connect to a screw hole (by measuring the resistance between those two points).

Then measure the resistance between the Gnd pin and each of the +5V and -5V pins at the HDA pins on the body of the HDD.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thank you for the instruction of the correct pin location.

I can't find the +5V and -5V hole in the rear side so I cannot perform the measurement with the PCB on the HDD like mikail13's post did.


I measure the HDA pin directly like this way. and get the result as follow:
Good HDD
+5V -5V
1.92 MOhm 6.33 MOhm
Bad HDD one
+5V -5V
129.1 Ohm 1.3 Ohm
Bad HDD two
+5V -5V
5.08 kOhm 1 Ohm

But I think I can confirm now that the preamp is dead on both my HDDs. The follow step I should do is to replace the HSA for those HDDs right?

Sorry, head swaps are not DIY procedures. :-(

Headstack matching for Western Digital:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=1036

Head replacement tool (HDDS WDC 2.5"-3.5" Ramp Set):
https://hddsurgery.com/data-recovery-tools/hdds-wdc-2-5-3-5-ramp-set (Animation & Video Tutorial)
https://hddsurgery.com/pdfs/HDDS%20WDC%202.5%20-3.5%20Ramp%20Set.pdf (manual)

DIY clean chamber, v2:
https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29602

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

yeah, that's a good question. And sorry, i didn't want to argue very hard

@danie: so we can state with very good reliability preamps are gone. Two things: 1: This is not DIY from now on. 2: what does R67 measure on both PCBs? (just out of curiousity).

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

@pepe R67 measurement on both defecative PCBs don't sound anything for continuity check and 0.03 ohms and spoke at good one. Seem like you are right.

@fzabkar thanks for your information. Seem like I have to get the 3.5" Ramp Set for the replacement first.

I got a same model WD normal HDD for the replacement of HSA at hand. Unfortunately, I am curious of what look inside and try to open up the HDD by my stupid hand and make it more complicated.

I make some scratch on the disk surface during the opening procedure

But first I need to thank all of you for the information and help on my case. I have learned much and get more understanding on recovering HDD. Like my previous reply said. The most important data(family's data) I have backup and most of the remain data are video and game data. So I can afford the lost of it.
And that why I decided to do it myself(for learning also).

Now I am considering the following:
1, as my previous reply said, I have attempted to exchange the firmware ROM in a chaos order. I have to figure it out that even if I can replace the HSA perfectly, will it be normal again?(I can confirm the ROM is with the correct PCB and HDD right now)
2, as the photo mentions above and I only got one good HSA now. Will the scratched disk can damage the good HSA's slider(read/write area?) if I replace it? Or should I forget the scratched one and focus on the other patient disk.

I would have thought that the cost of data recovery in China would be less than the outlay in parts and tools. That said, you can get cheaper head swap tools from places such as https://apextoollab.com.

As you say, the scratched platter will most likely destroy any replacement head.

Sorry for your loss. :-(

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

The top surface of that drive is mostly unrecoverable, the rest can be recovered but definitely not at home, without tools and experience.
i would not recommend playing with the other one either, same sht might happen.

DR companies would have just rip you off, so the perfect solution is the kitchen table and a screwdriver. Everybody can do recovery at home, cleanroom and mistic tools are just a tale. Youtube is the best friend of home DR attempts.

Sorry for being sacastic but i am sad about how this story is ending. :s
pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

@fzabkar thanks for the info. So I just abandon on recovering that one

@pepe You don't have to sorry about that cause you help me a lot on it. Trust me, I must going to the data recovery companies if I do not have the backup of the family data without a doubt. As I say, I can afford the lost on both of it so I can try and get some learning. This is a great experience for me on this lesson : read more before going, importance of keeping in backup, check the preamp before running the HDD after replaced the PCB, be extremely careful in the DR progress, and most importantly don't stick the sata cable in the pci-e of the PSU side etc.

I will keep update when I get the ramp tool and let who is interesting in what the story going to be. Good lucky to me

Ok, keep us updated .

For me to learn something from this case, could you post pic about what connectors you plugged together to achieve this result?
My PCs are not very fresh, but i can't find anything i could plug the sata power in ... (other than hdd molex power connectors...)

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

I get the similar pic from internet to explain my stupid action.


As you see, my dead PSU using 6pin cable for the connection of SATA but my spare PSU using it for pci-e. When I swap the PSU, I didn't also swap the power cable of the spare PSU. Then I plug in the cable without a serious checking and the story go this way. And yes it hurt

This is a common scenario that appears in the storage forums.

Warning: do not interchange modular PSU cables:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2545

PSA: Mixing Modular PSU Cables Can Kill Components:
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2702-psa-on-mixing-modular-psu-cables-dont-do-it

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

such psu sucks. IMO.
what's the point in introducing one more place where contact problems can occur? and resistances build up over the year between the contacts...

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Guys, after I replaced the HSA, the HDD still cannot be recognized. But this time even Victoria can't read it. Maybe it get a bigger problem. As brother have told above, seem like it is the time for me to give up now because it is not a DIY issue further.