Do PCB replacements ever work?

trian

Distinguished
Nov 18, 2007
10
0
18,510
So I'm yet another unlucky one to learn that my backups weren't working when my MAXTOR SHARED STORAGE II stopped working. Although it was under warrenty Maxtor tech support was a waste - they wanted $5K to 'recover' what they could. The unit was NOT subjected to a fall- although it did seem to run warm often. The discs are definately spinning in the drive.

I took the unit apart only to discover a Seagate ST31000340NS 1TB inside. Hooking it directly to a PC I found that it was still just clicking (see vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9akUUqeMT4) so the enclosure wasn't causing the issue. The bios didn't recognize it at all- so even with the linux drivers installed (Ext2fsd) win7 wouldn't recognize it. There are companies that say that screwing on a new PCB (~$50 might do the trick). Others replace the U12 ROM. But if that doesn't work other h/d repairers recommend buying the exact same drive and replacing heads. The drive runs prices vary a LOT but I've found a used one for ~$100. How likely would it be to repair it that way? I have heard that it is really hard to do without a clean room and proper torque settings etc. Any other suggestions for me to save the family videos on this drive? Has anyone had luck with replacing the PCB?
 

alfred_doolittle

Honorable
Oct 30, 2012
1
0
10,510
In some instances, as in power damage, there is a good chance of recovery if you find an undamaged matching PCB board. I did this recently after I inadvertantly plugged my drive in with a 19 V power supply, having mistaken it for the 12V one I needed to use. I Found a replacement PCB on the web (Google PCB Solution in Canada) for under $50 sen them my damaged PCB; they removed the firmware chip from the old board and put it on the replacement board and sent it to me. My hard drive never left my office. I put the replacement PCB board on the drive (six screws in about 45 seconds) and surely enough the drive came up and I backed up all my data: 1.5TB of music I have been collecting for years!

The folks at the PCB solutions were great: Kevin there exchanged at least a dozen emails with me before this was done: I could hardly believe I got this level of service for what I spent $50. What is more every one of the repair centers in LA I had called had dismissed the whole idea. I guess they want everyone to think every failed drive is going to need costly data recovery - which I now know is not the case.
 
Recent model Seagate drives (7200.11 and later) require a "firmware transfer". This entails moving an 8-pin serial flash memory IC, or its contents, from patient to donor.

That said, if a drive clicks and is not detected, then this would suggest an internal fault, possibly bad media or bad heads. However, in even in such cases, a data recovery cost of $5K is ludicrous.

The following company offers fixed price data recovery for US$800 plus parts:
http://myharddrivedied.com

The proprietor is Scott Moulton who is arguably the best known person in the DR business. I have no association with him or his company. I would use the above figure as your upper limit when shopping for quotes.
 

Camper4

Commendable
Jun 27, 2016
1
0
1,510
I would also like to support PCB Solutions. I purchased a donor card for my Seagate and the drive actually started working again and I could get data off. Highly recommended.

Their website is: http://www.onepcbsolution.com/

This was the model:
ST3500830A ST3500830A-9BJ036-500-3AAC-WU-100407840
9BJ036-500 3.AAC WU
Barracuda 7200.10 500
500GB Donor PCB 100407840