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Western Digital USB-SATA PCB List

by Jason | post a comment

 

Western Digital USB-SATA PCB List
USB PCB SATA PCB
WD 771675 WD 771672
WD 701615 WD 701499
WD 771737 WD 771692
WD 771761
WD 771754
WD 771801 WD 771823
WD 771859 WD 771852
WD 771814 WD 771820
WD 771817
WD 771949 WD 771931, WD 771959
WD 771962
WD 771950 WD 771933, WD 771960
WD 771961





HD HPE PRO

by Jason | post a comment

HD HPE PRO: A Must-Have hardware level of disk repair and data recovery equipment, which enables you an easy and exact drive disassembling and HEAD stack/Platter exchange.

Main Features:
Easy to use; Universal-fit workbench; Pioneer platter exchanger; change multiple platters without moving the platters out of alignment with each other; Special Actuator Remover with strong magnetism works(removal, installation) easily on the upper magnet of the actuator.

Highlights
Universal-fit workbench assures you to operate on your HD on a relatively stable table, making your job easier and more reliable.
Pioneer platter exchanger maintains the original cylinder status by removing and placing each platter of the multiple platters together, so that allows you to change multiple platters without moving the platters out of alignment with each other which otherwise will result in data corruption.
Special Actuator Remover assures you to perform easy operation (removal, installation) on the upper magnet of the actuator which is very hard to be removed and put back because of its strong magnetism and it’s sensitive and embarrassed position (being very close to both the Head Stack and Media Platter), in case it slips out and touch either of its fragile neighbors during the operations — the consequences will be a disaster.




















































PCB repair

by Jason | post a comment

The Printed Circuit Board controls many functions to operate the hard disk drive, There are 5 main features of a the electronics that can be unique to each drive that is likely to fail, the first being:

POWER INPUT
The most problems we see here are mostly human era... forcing the power plug in the wrong way
Unfortunately apart from a few notebook PCB's the is no protection fuse to prevent PCB Damage
There is also risk of power surges making it through to the electronics as well

FIRMWARE
Firmware is unique to the PCB this controls calibration and track information so it is very rare to be able to interchange the same model PCB with one that has another firmware revision... so what this means, if your board shorts out the firmware unique to the drive, you will be in trouble. Of course a good main stream data recovery company will be able to replace this and manually reprogram this chip

SPINDLE IC
This controls the speed and rotation of the spindle rotating the platters internal to the hard drive assembly or HAD
These intend to get very hot at times and can often short out… The most famous of models to this was the good old quantum LCT, particularly the TDA5247HT Chip; this would go up in smoke and leave a pin hole or a very big mess on or over the IC




MICRO CONTROLLER
These rarely fail unless there has been an extreme hit by power such as a lightning strike that may cause voltage through the IDE Cable. If this does fail you would normally find visible damage


TRACKS
Internal track are the thin Copper ribbons that run through the board that connect each component these can be easily damaged bay any of the above case scenarios, but one of the most common that I have seen is Corrosion
Below is a great Example of how quickly chemicals in the air from industrial workshops or even sulfa in the air from volcanic regions can cause havoc... but for most residential computer hard drives its condensation that damages a PCB

In this example this PCB was only 6 months old




WARNING IF YOU CHANGE  A PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD WITH A NON MATCHING PCB... SUCH AS DIFFERENT FIRMWARE, LAYOUT, OR MICRO CONTROLLER NUMBERS, YOU WILL RUN A HIGH RISK OF FAILURE AND FURTHER DAMAGE!

Yes there's a high chance...


YOU WILL SEE SMOKE!!!!!!

If you have an exact match to the PCB you want to attempt swapping, the risk will be minimal but what allot of people don’t realize, is that code can change overtime even with exact matching parts.

What this means is... if you were to purchase two NEW exact hard drives at the same time from the same batch and then swapped there PCB's to each other, you would most likely be successful!

Try that same scenario 6 months after heavy use... and results will could be very different
There's a high chance that each PCB has made themselves unique to each drive!

How can this be?
Its called SMART Technology where the hard drive is designed to reconfigure itself during operation to maximizing performance and protecting data.  If a sector is read slow but functional the drive will remap this sector as bad and move this sector creating changes to track and sector information in firmware
Now this new reconfigured information is unique to the drive, and can cause this PCB to be incompatible with any other drive of matching numbers.

As a data recovery engineer it is always best to repair the Original electronics of a failed hard disk drive.
That way you get maximum results with very little risk, Most high end data recovery companies have the expertise to replace many, if not all components on the PCB.. but not only physically but replacement, but this may also involve new components and reprogramming.







PCB Replacement

by Jason | 2 comments

What is Hard Drive PCB?
The green board on the bottom of the hard drive is known as Printed Circuit Board(PCB). The main function of the PCB is to supply power to the hard drive, maintain speed and rotation of the spindle, and control all internal operations through its firmware. Essentially, PCB is the brains of the hard drive that all components are heavily dependent upon.

Why Swap Hard Drive PCB?
Hard drives that do not spin up after the power has been supplied can be diagnosed as PCB failure. Because data recovery service is very expensive, sometimes we would prefer to swap PCB ourselves.

How to find the matching Hard Drive PCB boards?
• Western Digital - same board number which is etched on the PCB, begin with 2060-, for example 2060-701292-002.
• Seagate - same board number which is etched on the PCB, begin with 100…, for example 100466725, and the same Main Controller IC. If you can’t find the number on the PCB (Old Models), you should find the same Main Controller IC.
• Maxtor – same Main Controller IC(The biggest chip on the board), for example 040111300.
• Hitachi – for 2.5" hd, it is the information on the small white label begin with OA..., for 3.5" hd, it is the same Main Controller IC, begin with OA...
• Samsung - same board number which is etched on the PCB, begin with BF41-, for example BF41-00303A.
• Fujitsu - same board number which is etched on the PCB, begin with CA***

Hard Drive PCB Swap Process:
Remove the PCB from both hard drives with star screwdriver. Replace the damaged PCB with replacement one. If you HDD spins up, but can’t be recognized, you should also exchange the BIOS chip on it. If there is no matching 8pins BIOS chip on the PCB, it means the BIOS chip is integrated on the Main Chip IC, then you should remove the damaged PCB’s Main Chip IC to the donor PCB. It is more complex to exchange the Main Chip IC than exchange the BIOS chip. If you should do, please do several test on the PCBs which don’t have the important data.

What is PCB’s BIOS(ROM) Chip?
All of the 8pins (4 pins on each sides) with 25P05VP, 25P10VP, 25F512, 25F1024, 25F1024AN, SST25VF512, SST25VF010, etc. are the BIOS chip. It is easy to be found because there are not many 8pins chips on the PCB.

In most cases, you should exchange the BIOS before you swap hard drive pcb. You should have certain technique and tools.

Where to buy hard drive pcb online?
There are many great PCB online stores sell all kinds of PCB for your data recovery needs! Such as
http://www.drivestar.biz. We provide all kinds of PCB: Seagate, Western Digital, Maxtor, Samsung, IBM, Hitachi and Fujitsu. Always help you to find the marching PCB for your hard drive.

Note: You should know the hard drive failures are not always caused by PCB failure, swap PCB can’t guarantee to fix all of the hard drive problems.If the hdd pcb is damaged or burnt, need to replace it with the same model of pcb to make the hdd work.

1. For WD hdd, need to check the number on the pcb and the main chip.


The board number of pcb is 2060-701292-000 REV A



The board number of pcb is 2060-701335-003 REV B



The number of main chip is 88i6540-LFH



The number of main chip is 88i6545-TFJ1



For WD hdd, the ROM chip stores the firmware of the hdd (firmware for hdd is like operating system for computer),  you need to change the ROM chip from original board to the replacement board, in order to make the replacement board compatible with your HDD.




For some new models of WD pcb (ROYL Series), it has no independent ROM chip, the firmware is inside the main chip, need some tools to read it from the original pcb and write to the
replacement board, or swap the main chip.


2. For Maxtor hdd, need to check the number of main chip.


The number of main chip is 040111300



The number of main chip is 040125400

Most Maxtor hdd no need to replace the ROM chip, some needs.


3. For Seagate hdd, need to check the board number of pcb and main chip.


The board number of pcb is 100466725 REV A



The board number of pcb is 100422559 REV B



The number of main chip is 0750T 6727517



The number of main chip is 100367028



For Seagate hdd, also need to replace the ROM chip on pcb. Some models of pcb have no ROM chip, the firmware is stored in the main chip.



Hot air rework station



Use hot air rework station to remove the ROM (BIOS) chip from the original pcb.



The ROM (BIOS) chip is removed.



Solder the ROM (BIOS) chip on the Replacement pcb.

the following problems may be the pcb fault:

1, the hard drive does not spin up after power on;
2, the chip no change in temperature;
3, smoke and short circuit;
4, pcb components burn or connector damaged;
5, the computer cannot boot.

the following problems may be the hdd media fault:

1, the pcb is heating hot when the hard drive spins up;
2, the hard drive doesn't be recognized or very slowly;
3, the hard drive clicks or have bad sectors;
4, the initialization is very slowly or pending after start the computer.






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