Wd 500gb external hard drive wrong power supply

(1) ^ has a good point, the problem could be the enclosure, or the HDD. However I would be reluctant to connect it to my computer directly. Could use a DVM to verify that the HDD is not shorted first.

(2) what I would do is buy a cheap USB enclusure and R&R the enclosure. You did not mention the type of drive. Is it one of the small "notebook" 2 1/2 In drives or is it the larger 3 1/2 in drive. Anyways: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] +enclosure

(3) If you have a DVM, this is what I would do, I would first measure all the pins on the two connectors (power and Data) and compare them to a set of readings from a known good drive. Then if readings look OK then try the drive in a new enclosure, or directly into a PC.

Added: Pinout for sata Power (15 Pin): http://pinouts.ru/Power/sata-power_pinout.shtml

Drive upside down, looking at pins. Pin 1 is closest to the Data Connector (7 Pin).
Ohms check, Black meter lead to a screw hole (ground).
Ref: 3 1/2 in drive.
Pins 1 - > 3 Open
Pins 4 -> 6 0 Ohms
Pins 7 -> 9 Approx 10 K (May be higher)
Pins 10 & 12 0 Ohms
Pin 11 58 K ( this is an optional pins so may vary between brands/models)
Pins 13 -> 15 160 K ( for a 2 1/2" drive should be an open)

* open => 20 megohms.

For 7 Pin Data Connector: http://www.allpinouts.org/index.ph [...] ttachment)
Pin one is farest away from 15 Pin Pwr connector.
Pins 1, 4, & 7 = 0 ohms
Pins 2,3,5,& 6 = Open (=>20 Megohms.

Thanks for all the suggestions- All sound logical and sound- I will upload a photo ASAP of the components ID as suggested by Fzabkar- but I would like your opinion regarding the simpler suggestion that this hard drive be separated from the power source and placed as is in a PC without your modification - I am trying to salvage the information to place in a fresh hard-drive and not necessarily interested in using the "damaged" external hard-drive-

I sincerely appreciate your help and everyones- suggestions as I have seen this issue come up several times and know that you have helped many people

Thank you in advance- And look for the pictures of the drive enternals soon
Kase

Sorry it took me a while to reply - Again thank you in advance for your kind help. To complete the background- I have a Western Digital Elements 500GB External Hard Drive -serial number WCAV54862997. I accidentally plugged in my laptop power supply to this Hard Drive- I estimate it was there for maximum 25 seconds(probably less) I did not smell any burning - I just unplugged it when I realized the mistake- I then powered up the laptop. I then used the correct power supply in the WD hard drive and attempted to see if it would work- It did not. It did not make any noise , warm up or anything other than a flickering LED indicator near the power supply- Total time of the "test" of power -less than a minute.

I then started looking on the net for info regarding this issue and found many references ( also alot of high praise for Fzabkar) and some hope.

As I said before I am not a computer guy and may need some help in finding and dealing with the various fixes-

I have to deal with your collective help one item at a time- so I may ask many questions- I hope you have great patience-

I have taken photos of the circuit board- But am not sure how to upload them to the site

Please advise

Thank you

Hi Again took me a little while to get back to this project--I opened an imageshack album-and took the best photo could -I hope this will work--As always thank you in advance for your time
Kase


http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/3 [...] tboard.jpg

Back to this project- I have included a new photo because I am able to find the R 64 but not the D 64 you noted as circuits to test.

I hope that you can still help on this project- I am going one step at a time

Thank you

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-imag [...] board.jpg/

You go above and beyond my friend - Thank you again-- I will follow your instructions and will hope for the best- until next time THANK YOU!!!

To check a diode, you use forward to reverse measurement should be a min of 10 to one, but is normally a higher ratio - this only applies if the DVM can forward bias the diode.. If the DVM has a diode test, for a normal diode it will show the break down voltage, ie 0.7V for Si and 0.3or .4 V for Ge. DVM out put voltage is not high enough to check a zener diode this way.

To do an ohms check you would probably need to remove one end as the mete3r would read all parallel component resistance.

For the resistor if it has color bands, then you can compute the value it should be "Just google resistor color code.
More politically correct way to remember it, but forg, think it uses rum
Bad ........0
Boys ...... 1
Rxxx....... 2
Our ........ 3
Young .... 4
Girls ..... 5
But ........ 6
Violet .... 7
Gives .... 8
Willingly ..9
Silver 1/10 or 10%
gold 1/100 0r 5%

If not allow, mod please delete, hat to violate any rules

I snipped out the D4 diode the mount base measures on the DMM 1 . I am also measuring the removed D4 diode the readings for the D4 diode are in one direction 10.2 and with the dmm probes reversed 10.2 ( I read the the juice should only flow in one direction- not sure if that indicated a bad diode)

I also reassembled the hard drive with the D4 removed ( nothing in its place) and powered it up using the correct power supply- The led light flashes once and then goes off It does not activate the hard drive-

So there I am - I am still a novice at this and appreciate your advise

Ok,

I believe that I have tested the "copper pad of D4 ( I have used the DMM on either side of the connecting points of the D4 diode that i snipped from the PCB-) The reading I got from these points were 1 .

I am unclear what you mean by the second suggestion to "check whether +12V and +5V are appearing at the SATA power connector "

I do not have accesss to a desktop computer at the moment (that will change wityhin a week) . But could I accomplish the testing in a third part enclosure ( could you eloborate)

Also what do you mean by AIUI , Elements drive are not encrypted-- does this mean that I may be able to swap parts toa fresh Elements drive and get the harddrive to work? without losing the material on the old drive

I appreciate you time and help more than you know

Casey

[Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday- to all that have helped me on this project- I am slow at getting back to it - I try to decifer the responses before asking for more clairity- so it takes me a little longer-
But I wanted to wish everyone a great holiday, in the meantime!

In other brands (Seagate/Maxtor, Samsung, Hitachi, Fujitsu/Toshiba) there is a device (eg fuse, resistor, polyswitch, inductor, zero-ohm resistor) in series with the diode. When this device goes open circuit, then power to the board is interrupted. I always thought that WD boards were the same, although the resistor is at the ground end rather than the supply end. But now I'm not so sure. I have seen one WD board with both TVS diodes and zero-ohm resistors vacant (from the factory), and it still functioned as normal. However, this board was a different design.

All may not be not lost, though. If your board has a chip at U12, then simply transfer it to a donor PCB. Otherwise, if U12 is not populated, and if the MCU is not dead, then the following PCB supplier may be able to transfer the "adaptive" information for you:
http://www.donordrives.com/blog/pcbswapguide

"If you cannot find a ROM chip, and are working with a Western Digital hard drive, then it is likely imbedded in a main controller Marvell chip. That chip is extremely difficult to solder, and most of the time experts do not have success with it. Our company offers Free PCB Adoptation Service to customer who have made a purchase from our store. The new PCB will be reprogrammed to work with hard drive, with no soldering including in the process, whatsoever."

@Kase, since you have removed the short circuit and the drive still doesn't spin, then you need to eliminate the USB-SATA bridge board as a potential culprit. To this end you should connect the drive to a SATA port on your computer's motherboard, or install it in another (third party) enclosure. If the drive still doesn't spin, and assuming it is not programmed to Power Up In Standby (PUIS), then you will need to replace the board and transfer the serial flash memory chip (U12), if your board has one. If PUIS is enabled, then the drive should still be visible in BIOS, but you may not see its full model number and capacity.

http://pinouts.ru/Power/sata-power_pinout.shtml
http://pinouts.ru/Power/atxpower_pinout.shtml
http://pinouts.ru/Power/atx_v2_pinout.shtml