Hard Drive Issues - Printable Version
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Hard Drive Issues by djdannyp on 03-15-2008 at 05:38 PM
Okay, here's the problem.
I accidentally plugged my laptop power supply into my external hard drive (320Gb Western Digital - NOT a MyBook) after getting the cables mixed up when I came home from Uni. At first I didn't realise and the LED failed to come on when I pressed the power button......then after that it did come on, but the drive made no sound (as in a whirring sound of the hard-drive kicking in)
I took it apart and got the drive itself out and tried it in my computer where it wasn't detected either during start-up, or by Windows. Out of interest I also tried another hard-drive in the external hard drive casing and that did start whirring.
Evidently I've damaged some part of the hard-drive, but what I'd like to know is if it's at all possible that the data is still in tact and that there'd be some way of getting it off.
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Spunky on 03-15-2008 at 05:51 PM
The data is probably still all intact, but the mechanism for the arms to move has blown. Might only be something small too =/
RE: Hard Drive Issues by MeEtc on 03-15-2008 at 05:58 PM
The data itself will still be intact, but the mechanisms inside your drive for reading that data have all but died.
Most likely, the only way now to recover the data is if the disk platters are extracted and placed in an identical drive housing, and risk losing everything. one fingerprint or speck of dust could render the second drive useless as well, not to mention void both warranties. Or, you could get someone to do the data recovery for you, like Seagate
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Quantum on 03-15-2008 at 06:00 PM
If you go to UNI i would imagine that they have people that can do it and have the stuff. Not saying they will. 
RE: Hard Drive Issues by vaccination on 03-15-2008 at 06:12 PM
quote:That's VERY unlikely.
Originally posted by john-t
If you go to UNI i would imagine that they have people that can do it and have the stuff. Not saying they will.
RE: Hard Drive Issues by foaly on 03-15-2008 at 06:40 PM
Data recovery will probably cost alot more then the data is worth to you...
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Spunky on 03-15-2008 at 06:52 PM
PC world tried to charge me £100 for data recovery... Bunch of n00bs IMO 
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Adeptus on 03-15-2008 at 11:16 PM
Actually, the "mechanisms" are more than likely fine. The drive electronics (circuit board on the back) are what's been damaged.
To revive the drive, you will need to find an identical drive (same exact brand / model / size) and borrow the board from it. It should be easy to swap if done carefully, usually just a few screws. Once you get your old drive going, you can get off the data or just keep using it -- it will be the same as the drive that donated the board, anyway.
When somebody doesn't fry them with wrong voltage, most drive failures are mechanical -- so with some luck you could source the board from another non-working drive.
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Jarrod on 03-15-2008 at 11:49 PM
quote:i'd second that is the drive removeable from the enclosure?
Originally posted by Adeptus
Actually, the "mechanisms" are more than likely fine. The drive electronics (circuit board on the back) are what's been damaged.
To revive the drive, you will need to find an identical drive (same exact brand / model / size) and borrow the board from it. It should be easy to swap if done carefully, usually just a few screws. Once you get your old drive going, you can get off the data or just keep using it -- it will be the same as the drive that donated the board, anyway.
When somebody doesn't fry them with wrong voltage, most drive failures are mechanical -- so with some luck you could source the board from another non-working drive.
RE: Hard Drive Issues by djdannyp on 03-16-2008 at 12:05 AM
i can get the hard-drive out of the external enclosure, as far as i can remember there were a few screws (not traditonal heads though, looked more like an allen key was needed) on the circuit board on the back.
would it literally have to be an identical drive for me to be able to do that myself?
i have an old western digital 40gb hard-drive that i'd happily dissemble in order to get this one working
as for people saying before that profesional data recovery would be worth more than the data, that's not true.....the data is mostly priceless and irrecoverable
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Voldemort on 03-16-2008 at 12:07 AM
quote:If its as priceless as you said it is, use adeptus' method, buying another drive, as if you try to open it and get the plates into another drive a tiny slip may cost you all of your data
Originally posted by djdannyp
i can get the hard-drive out of the external enclosure, as far as i can remember there were a few screws (not traditonal heads though, looked more like an allen key was needed) on the circuit board on the back.
would it literally have to be an identical drive for me to be able to do that myself?
i have an old western digital 40gb hard-drive that i'd happily dissemble in order to get this one working
as for people saying before that profesional data recovery would be worth more than the data, that's not true.....the data is mostly priceless and irrecoverable
RE: RE: Hard Drive Issues by djdannyp on 03-16-2008 at 12:16 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Voldemort
quote:If its as priceless as you said it is, use adeptus' method, buying another drive, as if you try to open it and get the plates into another drive a tiny slip may cost you all of your data
Originally posted by djdannyp
i can get the hard-drive out of the external enclosure, as far as i can remember there were a few screws (not traditonal heads though, looked more like an allen key was needed) on the circuit board on the back.
would it literally have to be an identical drive for me to be able to do that myself?
i have an old western digital 40gb hard-drive that i'd happily dissemble in order to get this one working
as for people saying before that profesional data recovery would be worth more than the data, that's not true.....the data is mostly priceless and irrecoverable
his method doesn't mention doing anything with the plates though, just changing the circuit board on the back
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Voldemort on 03-16-2008 at 12:19 AM
yeah, because you don't need to move the plates using his method, which is safer... you just change the circuit board, which is easier than moving the delicate plates
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Jarrod on 03-16-2008 at 12:23 AM
if you can remove it from the enclosure why not just put in a computer?
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Voldemort on 03-16-2008 at 12:25 AM
quote:the circuit board of the hard drive is dead, not of the enclosure..
Originally posted by xen0h
if you can remove it from the enclosure why not just put in a computer?
RE: RE: Hard Drive Issues by djdannyp on 03-16-2008 at 12:28 AM
quote:
Originally posted by xen0h
if you can remove it from the enclosure why not just put in a computer?
quote:
Originally posted by my first post
I took it apart and got the drive itself out and tried it in my computer where it wasn't detected either during start-up, or by Windows.
as you can see, i already tried that and it didn't work
the external hard-drive enclosure still works fine, as i've tried another drive in it and that clearly starts to boot up
something to do with the drive itself is damaged, which people mostly believe to be the circuit board (it's definitely power related, not mechanical)
i just need to figure out how i can save it myself, or whether i should get it done professionally
RE: Hard Drive Issues by MeEtc on 03-16-2008 at 12:32 AM
If you can replace the external circuit board, its worth a shot. Otherwise, if the data is really important, get professional help so that you don't damage it any more than it already is
RE: RE: Hard Drive Issues by djdannyp on 03-16-2008 at 12:34 AM
quote:
Originally posted by MeEtc
If you can replace the external circuit board, its worth a shot. Otherwise, if the data is really important, get professional help so that you don't damage it any more than it already is
as i asked earlier, would it literally have to be an IDENTICAL circuit board, from the very same model
or would the circuit board from another hard drive (like the 40GB WD one i have) be okay?
RE: Hard Drive Issues by MeEtc on 03-16-2008 at 12:35 AM
no, it needs to be the same make/model as the broken one
RE: Hard Drive Issues by djdannyp on 03-16-2008 at 12:56 AM
the model of the circuit board is 2060-701314-002 and the hard-drive is a WD3200JB-00KFA0
I've had a search around but can't really find anything UK based to buy from....i've had the drive 2+ years now and it's been superseeded by the mybook range
any ideas?
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Th3rmal on 03-16-2008 at 01:03 AM
get professionals to do it for you? :/
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Adeptus on 03-16-2008 at 07:43 AM
quote:The simple answer is yes, it does. Some substitutions between same series drives of different capacities may work, but if you are going to buy a drive to try this, look for an identical one.
would it literally have to be an identical drive for me to be able to do that myself?
quote:I think you will change your mind about that when you get your professional recovery quote. It won't surprise me if it's a 4-digit figure.
the data is mostly priceless and irrecoverable
Not to make you feel worse, but rather to point out a valuable lesson for anyone reading this thread -- if the data was even remotely valuable, let alone "priceless", WHY is it that you don't have a backup? WHY is it that you didn't at least have RAID redundancy? Hard drives fail even without someone plugging in the wrong power supply.
I work in IT and see this all the time -- home users' data is always "priceless" after their drive dies (but usually only until they find out how much it will cost to recover). Before that happens, it's not just less than priceless, but not worth a hundred bucks for a second drive in a RAID-1, nor any of the owner's time to be proactive about it and back it up.
RE: Hard Drive Issues by MeEtc on 03-16-2008 at 07:59 AM
"Data is useless, information is priceless"
RE: Hard Drive Issues by foaly on 03-16-2008 at 08:45 AM
Last time my harddrive crashed and I thought about getting the data recovered they where going to charge 1 euro for every MB.
So in your case that would be 40000 euro equals to about 60000 dollar.
So unless they can recover it easely or proffesional recovery got alot cheaper, I really think your data isn't that priceless...
RE: Hard Drive Issues by ShawnZ on 03-16-2008 at 09:17 AM
do you know anybody with a 320gb WD internal drive with that model number that you could borrow the drive of? all you would need to do is swap the board off -- that's most likely what the problem is. after, you could swap it back and give them back their drive.
RE: RE: Hard Drive Issues by djdannyp on 03-16-2008 at 10:27 AM
quote:
Originally posted by ShawnZ
do you know anybody with a 320gb WD internal drive with that model number that you could borrow the drive of? all you would need to do is swap the board off -- that's most likely what the problem is. after, you could swap it back and give them back their drive.
no, prtty much everyone i know has laptops
i'm trying to find either a drive or a circuit board online to buy as i think that'd be easier than trying to borrow one
if i did get professional help it wouldn't be some large company, it'd be one of a couple of independent professionals that i know of....who wouldn't be charging 4-6 figure sums (or whatever other ridiculous things have been suggested)
as for telling me to have backed it up.....i've already come to that conclusion by myself. it doesn't really help to give me advice about what i should/could have done because that's kinda irrelevant now. what helps the most is suggesting ways i can sort it out, like helping me find the same hard-drive/circuit board
Rep points for EVERYONE who properly helps me out on this (as long as it ends in the safe recovery of my data!)
EDIT:
Okay, i've found this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-320Gb-Dri...=1205663855&sr=1-1
now......my hard drive is WD3200JB-00KFA0 and this one is WD3200JB-RTL
would that be compatible......or would i have to contact the seller to see if they can tell me the circuit board number to see if it's the same?
i've also found this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0008EN7...m/coffeeuk13117-21
am i even getting close?
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Adeptus on 03-16-2008 at 06:40 PM
quote:I think you are. However, while looking that up, I came across this thread in another forum, which you might want to read.
am i even getting close?
Basically, the posters there are suggesting that for this particular drive it is necessary to install the old ROM on the new board for guaranteed success. That involves some fine soldering work and if you have never done anything of the sort before, that won't end well. According to that thread, you have to get very lucky for the drive to work with another board without the ROM swap.
I can neither confirm nor deny that -- I have done a few board swaps successfully, but all on much older drives than yours. The reasoning for the need to preserve the ROM sounds plausible.
I don't think you can hurt anything by buying one as close to identical as you can find and trying the board swap without touching the ROM -- in the worst case it won't work, you will put the board back on the new drive, still not have your data, but you'd need a replacement drive anyway. I will, however, caution you to not even think about soldering SMT components of this size unless you have experience and appropriate soldering station, and know you can do it. I have soldering experience and still wouldn't want to do that with the tools I have.
If you have more questions about this, you might want to try that forum -- it seems like they deal with this subject on daily basis.
RE: Hard Drive Issues by djdannyp on 03-16-2008 at 09:54 PM
yeah, i had found that thread...... and a similar one by the same person.....i've actually e-mailed a guy who [at that time] offered that board to see if he can still supply it to me.
i wouldn't try mucking around with soldering stuff myself. if the board didn't work or a board from a similar hard drive didn't work i'd ask a professional mate of mine if he knows anything else i can do (or that he could do)....if not then i'm pretty stuffed 
if i couldn't recover the data i wouldn't bother replacing the drive......i'm not gonna be able to rebuild what was on it, so i wouldn't bother getting another external hard-drive....if i did repair it (by whatever means) i'd buy a newer external hard-drive to put all the data onto
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Vilkku on 03-20-2008 at 07:18 PM
I stumbled upon this just now.
RE: Hard Drive Issues by djdannyp on 05-25-2008 at 01:52 PM
my hard drive is now fixed 
after acquiring exactly the same model from ebay and getting a chip swapped over from the old (fried) circuit board onto the new one.....it works perfectly
all my data is still there and everything
so it goes to show, just don't give up......cos £60 and 2 months later, I've recovered everything!
RE: Hard Drive Issues by Vilkku on 05-25-2008 at 02:28 PM
Yay, great job. Now we also have definite proof that your method works 