will it work?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RB
  • Start date Start date
R

RB

My computer crashed, and a local shop tells me it's the hard drive, and
they're going to have to completely re-do everything after putting a new
unit in place.

I pulled my hard drive, and it has a controller/logic card on the back side
of the unit. Most likely it's something on this board that has gone bad, as
there's no unusual noise coming from the unit, it still works a little bit,
etc.

Since it's very important that I not lose any of my data files, I'm thinking
about ordering a new replacement drive exactly like this one (yes, they're
available).

The logic/controller cards look very much like they'll come off somewhat
easily just by removing some screws.

If I can physically swap cards, is the hard drive unit likely to work OK if
I put it back in, and, will my data files probably be intact?
 
RB wrote:
Snipped
The logic/controller cards look very much like they'll come off somewhat
easily just by removing some screws.

If I can physically swap cards, is the hard drive unit likely to work OK if
I put it back in, and, will my data files probably be intact?
Click to expand...

The problem is you do not know what caused the failure for sure. If it
was a power surge, the motor could be damaged or the read/write heads
could have damaged the data on the drive.

Depending on what/how important this data is, I would consider sending
the hard disk off to a data recovery firm, they are expensive, but they
will be able to get *some* if not all the data off the drive.
 
The motor still works OK. A new drive costs $80. If I can recover by
swapping out the logic/controller cards, then all I'm out is $80. I'm
willing to gamble that to save $500-$1000 by having to send it off to a
specialist.

The question I have is, assuming there is component or components bad on the
board, and I do swap it out, will that get me going again, if nothing else
is wrong. Anyone ever do this? And, does it work?
 
RB said:
The motor still works OK. A new drive costs $80. If I can recover by
swapping out the logic/controller cards, then all I'm out is $80. I'm
willing to gamble that to save $500-$1000 by having to send it off to a
specialist.

The question I have is, assuming there is component or components bad on the
board, and I do swap it out, will that get me going again, if nothing else
is wrong. Anyone ever do this? And, does it work?
Click to expand...
I've heard people do this and be successful yes. But I could not tell
you the brand or size of the HDD that they did it on.

I wish you the very best of luck :-)
 
RB said:
The motor still works OK. A new drive costs $80. If I can recover by
swapping out the logic/controller cards, then all I'm out is $80. I'm
willing to gamble that to save $500-$1000 by having to send it off to a
specialist.

The question I have is, assuming there is component or components bad on the
board, and I do swap it out, will that get me going again, if nothing else
is wrong. Anyone ever do this? And, does it work?
Click to expand...
If you get another drive of the same model and version, you should be
able to swap the logic board. The problem is you have not described
very well the EXACT nature of your failure. If your drive is failing to
read track zero, then it could be a damaged disk surface. I supposed it
could be in the logic board as well, but most often that type of failure
is surface damage. Failure of the HD to be detected during the POST is
more likely to be a logic board failure.

Of course you have a point, the risk is buying an $80 HD hoping it will
solve your problem, or paying much more to retrieve the data. You will
end up with another HD for the $80 as well. You don't have many options.

Ken
 
RB said:
The motor still works OK. A new drive costs $80. If I can recover by
swapping out the logic/controller cards, then all I'm out is $80. I'm
willing to gamble that to save $500-$1000 by having to send it off to a
specialist.

The question I have is, assuming there is component or components bad on the
board, and I do swap it out, will that get me going again, if nothing else
is wrong. Anyone ever do this? And, does it work?
Click to expand...

Some of the new logic boards keep track of spare sectors swapped for bad ones
during the life of the drive. It's still worth a try. Make sure the drive
is as close a "twin" of the old one as posible. In addition, I'd have
a recovery floppy disk available, just in case the boot sectors were messed up,
or the sector tables have promlems. The data sectors might be good but not
readable in the usual way.

I assume you've tried recovery from a DOS boot disk already. If not:

http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk.htm for a free recovery disk. I haven't tried
it, but it's looks useful. Obviously, the first rule is don't do anything
that tries to write to the disk.

Virg Wall
 
RB said:
My computer crashed, and a local shop tells me it's the hard drive, and
they're going to have to completely re-do everything after putting a new
unit in place.

I pulled my hard drive, and it has a controller/logic card on the back side
of the unit. Most likely it's something on this board that has gone bad, as
there's no unusual noise coming from the unit, it still works a little bit,
etc.

Since it's very important that I not lose any of my data files, I'm thinking
about ordering a new replacement drive exactly like this one (yes, they're
available).

The logic/controller cards look very much like they'll come off somewhat
easily just by removing some screws.

If I can physically swap cards, is the hard drive unit likely to work OK if
I put it back in, and, will my data files probably be intact?
Click to expand...

for $80 i think i;d give it a try
because data recovery outfits generally want an identical drive in addition
to the bad one
additionally, you can put the logic board back in the new drive and still
have a good drive
 
OK. I think I'll go for it and changeout the boards. We'll see what
happens.

Thanks for all the inputs.
 
I have heard of putting drives in the freezer and then trying them. I am
not sure what this does to a hard drive. Sometimes the drive motor gives up
and just will not spin up to the correct speed. This may have to do with a
part heating up and expanding too much. If you get it wroking recover the
data right away. You need to have a second disk before you start messing
with it. My bet this is a mechanical problem and not the electronic
components on the board.

If you ever watch Tech-TV they are always talking about this stuff. They
may have something on their website. Or on the Screen-Savers web site.

Consider this a last resort.

I think what it does is change the device so it might work long enough to
recover the data.

I would just buy a new hard drive. I would not use that drive again.

Sometimes the best deals on hard drives are at best buy or Sams. Sams often
has retail drives for low prices. I always order drives on the Internet
from

www.newegg.com

In a store you never know if the box has been bounced off the end of a truck
or whatever. Jarring can kill a hard drive or seriously damage it. New Egg
always packs my orders extremely well. Western Digital makes good hard
drives.
 
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