Busted chip thingy on my HDD

[zub]

well i had a external 300GB HDD, which just stopped working for some reason the other day. i removed the HDD form the external casing and noticed that a small chip like thingy on the reverse of the HDD had blown and was stinking somewhat. The rest of the HDD seems fine and i would imagine that the actaul Data disks are fine also.

what i want to know is there any way to repair this blown chip? because i had some valuable data on the HDD that i would like to keep. i think i read somewhere that the data disks inside the HDD can be removed and put into another??? is this possible and how would i do this? who would i contact?

sorry for all the questions but i would really like to recover the data.

Any help would be mucho appreciated.

 

[K404]

Unless you have access to Class 10 or better cleanrooms...dont open the disk

 

[zub]

ahhhh....do you know of any people/company that may provide the service?

 

[K404]

Some companies offer data recovery using top of the range hardware and software..

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=data+recovery+UK&meta=

Try that..cant hurt

K

 

[zub]

ok, thanks i think i may have one that should prove useful to me.

 

[unreal]

You better decide whether you 'really want' this data or 'need' it.

Professional Data recovery is expensive, last time I asked I was quoted over £100 or perhaps it was £200..

 

[zub]

yup, just looked at the prices, and they are pretty damn expensive. All the HDD really needs is a new control board. i dont really think the data would be worth £100, but i'm still looking and if i can get it in about £60 then i may just do it.

 

[Thor]

Is it still in warrenty? See if your hdd manufacturer can sort it for u?

 

[zub]

yes, its still under warranty. it is a maxtor drive, but i dont have a reciept, but the person i bought it off can replace it with a new one for me, but i really just need this one repaired. do you think i can get it repaired under maxtor warranty if i can get a new reciept of the seller? rather than just having a new one.

 

[Thor]

Its worth a shot, the worst they can say is no

 

[zub]

just sent maxtor an email asking if they do repairs rather than replacements.

 

[jellybeard999]

just sent maxtor an email asking if they do repairs rather than replacements.

Maybe ask if they can recover the data, then issue RMA and replace the data ?

 

[zub]

hmmm..maybe, still waiting for reply.

Hey i also heard that you can buy another maxtor HDD (same model) and switch round the control boards. Is this possible? but i heard each HDD board is different and i could risk loosing my data.

 

[Thor]

Wait for maxtor to get back to you, they may swap out the control board on your knackered hdd or swap the platters, thus possibly saving you data.

Fingers crossed tho mate

 

[zub]

eh it is a long shot still waiting.

 

[zub]

ok, so maxtor still hav'nt got back to me as of yet and i have even sent another email. But after reading up on their faqs and stuff it would seem that all they do is provide replacements.

so i was wondering is it possible to swap out the circuit board of my HDD with another board of the same model? currently i am watching one on ebay which is the exact same model as my drive. Is it possible to just swap round circuit boards? would this work? and how difficult is it to swap them round?

 

[Thor]

In theory it should work, but not being a whizz with electronics i don't know, it also depends what components are on the board. If there is any memory chips with records of where your data is then you'd have to swap them with the new hdd. But then this would invalidate you warrenty so you cant get a replacement drive.

Can you just replace the component that has gone bust or has it damaged the tracks?

 

[zub]

well the chip has busted and it seems to have damaged slightly the area around it. besides i dont have the right tools to swap out only a small chip. i'm gonna go give the board swap a try, but i have not really got a good idea of what it really involves. any more experienced peeps like to share their views?

 

[Master_G]

You could pose this question on the storage review forums, the guys on there know more about HDDs than anyone else i know, so if someone can answer your question then they are likely to be on there.

G

 

[zub]

ok, after a bit more diggin around i have found that it is very much possible to do this and it is also very easy. all i need is a drive with the same model number and firmware. Now there is no firmware number shown on my drive nor on the drive i want to buy but my drive is dated at 29th Dec 2005 and the new drive is dated at 1st Sep 2005, so the dates are pretty close. Fingers crossed that hopefully it will work.

this is where i found out that it is possible, nice story really - http://www.deadharddrive.com/