Hi folks,

So my HDD packed in lastnight when an idiotic friend plugged his laptop power supply into it, and from the googling & reading I've done today on the symptoms, plus the smell coming from the PCB on the underside of the HDD I have come to the conclusion that it has been frazzled by 'idiot friend'.

I can't afford to outsource a repair at all and would just like to try and replace the PCB myself, so I have a few of questions for you wizards..

1) Is it as simple a job as just removing the burned out PCB by taking it off, and then attaching a new one?

2) What part do I need exactly, and where on earth would I go to buy one?

3) What advice would you give someone who has never done this before?!

4) What form of punishment should I unleash on 'idiot friend'?

So yeah I am a full on rookie as you can gather, but seeing as the HDD is already shot I have nothing to lose by trying to repair it myself, right?

Apologies if these questions are laughable, I need my data back asap and this seems to be the only place I can ask these things.

I tried to take a pic of the label with my phone's camera but it was just a blurry mess so I'll type the info.

Barracuda 7200.11
1500 Gbytes
SATA
+ 5V 0.72A
+ 12V 0.52A

S/N 9VS0K9KN
ST31500341AS
P/N 9JU138-568
Firmware: SD37
Date Code: 09201
Site Code: TK


Hope somebody can help here! If anyone has any questions please do ask..

Andrew

Hi,

You cannot simply replace the PCB on this series of HDD.

The PCB's are unique to the drive itself, unique data including the serial number are encoded into the ROM on the PCB.

So, you've got to either repair the original PCB or transfer the ROM to a new PCB.

I'm in Peterborough UK, if you need some assistance.

Cheers

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Righto, thanks for the reply.. was hoping it would be that simple but am not at all surprised that it isn't.

There's no way I could repair the PCB, seeing as I have no clue what is actually shot on it, and also no idea how to transfer ROM from the offending PCB onto a new one, that I don't have..

A self-repair isn't going to happen is it.

Perhaps its the VDR that is shortcircuited.
Search this site for VDR and perhaps that will give you some clues.

Best reagards,

Dobre

_________________
Murphy was an optimist

Datarecovery in Belgium, Holland, France and Germany
Datarecoverytools http://www.drtools.eu

Ok thankyou Dobre, I will have a look at that tomorrow to see if it is burned out, I don't have the right sized tool to unscrew the PCB from the HDD right now so will have to pop in to the local PC shop tomorrow and see if they will let me use theirs quickly.. will report back if it looks similar to the pics posted in the thread where you brought up the VDR thing.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply folks, much appreciated.

You will need to t6 screw driver.

Awesome. Thanks Spildit and HDD Spaz.

Where might I get a new PCB?

I'm off to see a guy on thursday to diagnose the problem, and would like to pick up a new PCB anyway..

You can get a new PCB from donor supplier.

As you have not done data recovery before, to avoid the recoverable data become irretrievable, it is suggested to locate a professional DR service for help. On the other hand, if you interest in this field, you also can start your own DR business

Are you sure this good advice?