Hi Guys,

I currently have a Samsung HD160JJ/P.

A little error occurred when it was put in a Hard Drive Caddy, and the Caddy had the wrong transformer put in it.

The control board on the old Hard Drive gave a funny smell, and the HDD would no longer power up.

So, I bought a new HD160JJ/P on ebay, and swapped the Control Boards over.

This appears to sort of work. Basically, the HDD now powers up when in my server but nothing else.

I transfered it to my HDD Caddy (this time with the right transformer!) and it powers up. It makes the high pitch fan-like noise, and then I hear 'clicking'. Then we go pack to the high pitch noise. But, I see nothing on my computer (a Macbook) to suggest that the Caddy is talking to the computer.

Any advice on what this may be?

Would the error with the transformer/blowing circuit board be enough to wipe the HDD, or is there an issue somewhere else?

Any help would be much appreciated, the HDD is most important to me.

For what its worth the Caddy is made by CnM Lifestyle Electronics, and appears to be called 'HDD Docking Station No.1'. There is permanently a Blue light on, but sometimes a Red Light too.

Cheers
Neil

you need a data recovery service. Contact PCimage. he is in the UK and will recover the data for a good price.

PS. Your hard drive is not sort of working, its either working or is isnt. Your disk is not working.

Can you upload a detailed photo of your damaged board?

Hi Guys,

Thanks for looking at this for me.

I do appreciate the fact I probably need to get a Data Recovery, but it seems odd that the HDD now powers up with a new board....

Anyway, attached are the images of the board which I believe to be broken. Sorry the Flash doesn't do it too many favours, what can you tell?

Cheers
Neil

Please do not place your board on carpet! Keep it away from static.

If you have a multimeter, set it to the 200 ohms range and measure the resistances of the two TVS diodes. I'm not familiar with your board, but I suspect that the part above the top left corner of the long rectangular RAM chip in the first photo is your 12V TVS diode. The part to the right and slightly above it appears to be the 5V TVS diode. If either is shorted, ie if it measures close to zero ohms, snip it out with side cutters or desolder it. The drive will work perfectly well without it, albeit without protection on the affected supply rail. Just be absolutely sure your power supply is OK.

Your photo is quite poor, as you say, so I can't tell if there are any fuses which may have opened.

The following article may help you identify the components:
http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

Thanks so much for that!!!!

Its not on a carpet, its on my kitchen worktop:) I shall certainly be avoiding static.

Thanks again, I will let you know how I get on

In the 5th picture down:


TVS left to the Rectangular chip (RAM/Cache) is damaged.


To confirm I would still post a better picture, but even in the blurriness I can see that it looks split/damaged.


What was the voltage amount of the adapter you plugged in? Hopefully the TVS did their job.

Also, just a quick point.

Whilst I appreciate that the old board could be fubbered, why would the HDD not work with an identical board from exactly the same HDD?

Hi Russ, the voltage was a touch over 15V that was plugged into it.

Sorry, me again.

The TVS does indeed appear to be split.

Whats the fix.

And as I asked earlier, why with a new board would this cause the HDD not work?

The fix is to remove it.

If, for continued protection, you wish to replace it, you can use an SMBJ12A part from Farnell:
http://uk.farnell.com/stmicroelectronic ... erch=true&

Check the fuses also.

See ...
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HD160JJ_TVS_fuse.jpg
http://www.arkadasbilgisayar.com/images ... 02_PCB.jpg

The reason a board swap didn't work was because each board stores drive specific calibration data determined at the factory.

of course. this kind of PCB without ROM chip. that you need to do some special work on it. please contact me if still need help. i can handle it. thanks.

_________________
data recovery service[/b]

Hi Guys,

Just had a bit of a check on the Meter;

- The reading of TVS12 (the broken looking one) is 0 Ohms

- The reading of TVS5 is on average 8.1 K Ohms

- A 'bleep test' of Fuse 12 is no bleep at all

- A 'bleep test' of Fuse 5 is a long continuous bleep

- The reading of Fuse 12 is on average 1.475 M Ohms

- The reading of Fuse 5 is 0 Ohms.

What conclusions can we draw from this, and what can we look at to get the HDD running as a temp fix?

Cheers
Neil

First make absolutely sure your power source is OK.

Then remove TVS12, and bridge F12 with a length of wire. Take care not to introduce any solder shorts.

In the long term, replace TVS12 with an SMBJ12A, and replace F12 with a 2A picofuse, or smt fuse if you can find one.

If the above is too difficult for you, any junior TV technician should be able to do it for a few beers.

Good luck.

Hi Guys,

We are all fixed and back to normal.

Thanks so much to everyone who has assisted, and offered some great advice.

You are genuinely a bunch of fantastic guys, and clear geniuses

Hi Guys,

Bit of an update

The HDD works perfectly now, in my Caddy.

But I am having issues getting Windows to boot of it, when put in my server.

Can anyone advise what is likely to be the cause of this - and any fixes?

Thanks
neil