Old 80Gb clicking, stuck BSY.
I only have 1 donor with both matching model and part numbers, manufacturing date are 3 months apart.
Swapped the HSA.
Drive sounds fine - no clicks or knocks gets DRD + DSC no delay.
But do anything with the drive even try and ID it goes ERR + ABR.
ACE have logged in and suggested a PCB swap.
PCB swap and foreign ROM - same.
PCB swap and ROM swap - same.

Id normally try another set of heads but they appear to be as rare as rocking horse shit and Id have to order in from the Stats.

Any other suggestions?

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Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

Check for a fine circular scratch line on the platter, near the spindle.

Also check heads for dust under a microscope.

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Also, what happens if you put the heads back in the donor?

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Heads aren't spotless but were working in the donor originally.
No sign of any platter damage even under the scope
The original set knocked very badly.
There are absolutely no initialisation sounds from the HSA on power up at all.
I took everything apart and reassembled again to make sure it could move freely.

Ace seem pretty convinced it's pcb or rom as the rom wont read, but I've never been able to read any fujitsu roms from pc3K. They're not exactly common drives, I've only had a handful in and I don't actually remember ever backing one up.

There's another donor on the way so I can do some mix and match testing.

_________________
Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

FWIW ...

https://hddguru.com/articles/2006.02.17-Changing-headstack-Q-and-A/

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

pc3k can't read rom on these, so their confidency is at least odd.
does it start (move heads) with the donor pcb?

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Thanks for the confirmation on the rom, I was beginning to second guess myself.

No movement at all regardless of PCB, even thought for a minute I may have bent a connector pin or nicked the coil removing the magnet but I can't see any damage. I'd have expect even with a none compatible or damaged HSA to at least hear an attempt to init.

Will confirm later by putting patient pcb on a working donor #2 when it arrives just in case this is something model specific. Have already tried patient pcb on a different model and the drive clicks as expected. Drive was fine after, so the patient pcb didn't kill the HSA either.

I just don't understand why the drive comes ready.

_________________
Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

Donor #2 has a significant amount of bad sectors which the seller failed to mention, I hate it when they do that.

Donor #1 HSA back in Donor #1 - instantly ready, no init just as the patient ERR+ABR on ID. So it looks like they were faulty.
Patient HSA back in - clicking.
Donor #2 HSA in - clicking.
PCB/ROM swap with Donor #2 - no difference.

I always hate to return domestic client devices unrecovered, but I work on a no data, no fee. I'm already down 2 donors plus time, I can't find a donor #3 so it's not a rabbit hole I can go follow. It may end up with elsewhere though, at least there's a history to find if it does.

_________________
Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/