Recovering data from a hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Edward Diener
  • Start date Start date
Edward said:
What is the PCB ? I assume the component side is the side in the 1st
link above.
Click to expand...

PCB = Printed Circuit Board

That's where the logic and firmware is located. It sounds like Franc
wants you to unscrew the PCB to look at the other side. I'm with
Franc's first assessment that it's a WD hard disk. I'm sure knowing
what model is of great importance if the test of moving the HDD to the
mobo connectors doesn't have the BIOS detect the device. Maybe he is
thinking of you getting another similar model and switching the PCBs but
that rarely works even if you get the exact model PCB for replacement.
 
PCB = Printed Circuit Board

That's where the logic and firmware is located. It sounds like Franc
wants you to unscrew the PCB to look at the other side. I'm with
Franc's first assessment that it's a WD hard disk. I'm sure knowing
what model is of great importance if the test of moving the HDD to the
mobo connectors doesn't have the BIOS detect the device. Maybe he is
thinking of you getting another similar model and switching the PCBs but
that rarely works even if you get the exact model PCB for replacement.
Click to expand...

Thanks ! I know what he wants me to do. If I remove the PCB, can it
usually be screwed back on without any further damage. I realize the
drive is dead right now, but maybe it is still usable somehow.

First I am going to mount it internally to see if the BIOS recognizes it.
 
Edward said:
Thanks ! I know what he wants me to do. If I remove the PCB, can it
usually be screwed back on without any further damage. I realize the
drive is dead right now, but maybe it is still usable somehow.

First I am going to mount it internally to see if the BIOS recognizes it.
Click to expand...

You should be able to remove the 4 screws that holds down the PCB and
simply lift it up to look at its under side. There are flexible ribbon
cables shoved into friction-fit connectors but those should be okay as
long as you don't yank on the PCB (and if you pull them out, you should
be able to just push them back in).

From your pic, the solder side is shown as the outward face. The
components are on the inward face (towards the case or body). I'm not
sure what knowing what are the components are going to help unless Franc
is thinking of detecting a fried part, like a regulator diode. Maybe
there's a label on the component side but I think the PCB lettering you
already see probably identifies the part number for that PCB (if Franc
is thinking of having you replace it with an exact replica from another
hard disk of the same brand and model).

I don't know if you're good at soldering to remove the tiny diode chip
to replace it if that's the problem or some other component. Knowing
what is the PCB model number probably won't help unless you have another
exact brand and model from which to canabilize its PCB (but, like I
said, that rarely works since the table of bad sectors and alignment
tweaks won't be the same between PCBs). Were you really thinking of
doing some work on the hardware?
 
I know what he wants me to do. If I remove the PCB, can it
usually be screwed back on without any further damage.
Click to expand...

There are no interconnecting cables, so the board should just lift off
without any effort. It goes on the same way. You will need a Torx
screwdriver, though (Torx 6 or 8, IIRC).

If there is an 8-pin serial flash memory chip at location U12, then
this will need to be transferred to your replacement board, if it
should come to that. This chip stores unique, drive specific,
"adaptive" data. If U12 is vacant, then the "adaptives" will be stored
within the Marvell MCU, in which case a straight board swap will
probably fail (the tolerances between the donor and patient's
adaptives would need to be very close).

BTW, if BIOS doesn't see your drive, then try MHDD. MHDD talks to the
drive directly without going through BIOS. You will need to
reconfigure your SATA controller in your BIOS setup for IDE
compatibility or legacy mode. This will make your drive look like a
PATA HDD.

- Franc Zabkar
 
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