Dead Hard Drive

[sb14blue]

I accidentally used the wrong power supply to boot my external Seagate Free Agent Desk 1TD hard drive. When I put the correct power supply in, the hard drive would not turn on. I removed the hard drive and placed it into my desktop. When I went to boot the computer, the computer itself would not power on. When I disconnected the hard drive, the computer powered on. Does anyone have any idea what I did, why the computer will not power on with the hard drive connected, and what I need to do to get my hard drive working again?

 

[denis280]

when you say wrong power supply how many volt did it have.

 

[sb14blue]

It used my laptop power supply. 19v is labeled. The power supply for the hard drive says 12v.

 

[sb14blue]

I just placed a backup hard drive into the Seagate Free Agent enclosure. The drive powered on and was recognized by the computer. Based on this, is it safe to say that I damaged the PCB board on the hard drive? Where do I go from here?

 

[C1]

There's an outstanding chance that your data can be recovered by a professional data recovery service, but in all probability you wont be able to stomach the cost.

Recommend chucking the bad drive and replacing it with a new one (including enclosure) and attempting to reconstruct your lost data as best as you can (eg, from available backups).

 

[corkyg]

Recommend chucking the bad drive and replacing it with a new one (including enclosure) and attempting to reconstruct your lost data as best as you can (eg, from available backups).

This! Evidently you blew the externals power circuit with over voltage. External drives are too cheap to repair.

 

[sb14blue]

I can't toss this drive. This drive is... was my back-up drive, but I had recently reformatted my system drive. I was actually attempting to put the files back onto my computer when this happened. I quess you can call it really bad timing for screwing up. At some point, I will need to retrieve those files, especially the family videos. Is the professional recovery option my only option?

 

[C1]

Man-o-man.
1. You could just take the drive to a recovery service and ask for a quote
2. There are websites Ive seen that provide directions and show you how to acquire and replace the HDD's PCB, but what Im not sure about (because of the over voltage) is whether or not you damaged (fried) the internal electro-mechanical mechanism. Doing item 1. first might provide insight on this.

Anyways, there are all kinds of websites like these:
http://www.harddrive-repair.com/hard-drive-parts.html

However, my advice is that given you are that desperate, if you get a quote of $500 from a recovery place then take it as if or when the do-it-yourself smoke clears (if it ever does) then you will have ended up with that sounding like a deal (hindsight).

Addendum:
BTW, if you only just reformatted the HDD in your main machine and that's all that has been done so far (eg, didnt try to install OS), then I would not mess around and would immediately try to extract/recover as much as I could off THAT drive (with read only passive means/tools). You might be surprised how much is able to be recovered under such conditions.

www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/01/24/top-10-free-data-recovery-software/

 

[denis280]

Yes it is possible to replace the PCB but it is a delicate procedure.

 

[lowrider69]

It's funny how many people decide that the data on their drives isn't that important after they get a quote from a professional data recovery place. "$1500...... well, gee, huh, um, I guess I'll just throw it in the garbage"

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

If its really that important you can take some shots at repairing it.

First, I would try connecting it to the PC power only and see if it spins up. Nothing should stop the whole system from powering up if it's just connected with the power connector.

you didn't mention if it was SATA or IDE.

if it's sata, once it's powered on and spinned up, just plug the sata cable in and see if your system can recognize it.

If it's IDE I would go the route of the PCB replacement.

Look online for an exact match for the drive, model and firmware if possible.

I've done this before and it's actually pretty easy if you have the exact same drive.

 

[C1]

Here's a source for Seagate PCBs:
http://www.agreatserver.com/cgi/search.pl?S=PCB+Seagate&C=158830

 

[nitrous9200]

I would say definitely try swapping the PCB over from a donor drive of exactly the same model (and preferably firmware version). I did that once after frying a drive and the drive works to this day - it's very easy to do, as the board is only held down by screws.

 

[sb14blue]

Thanks for all of your advice. I decided to go the cheapest route and went for cloning the PCB board. I went with a company called PCB Solution. They had me remove the PCB board and send it to them. They cloned the firmware on a matching board for $50. I received the new board yesterday, installed it, and it worked. I immediately backed-up all of the files on a new hard drive and the drive is still working. Lucky me!!! If anyone out there makes the same mistake I made, checkout PCB Solution at http://onepcbsolution.com/.

 

[C1]

Thanks for getting back to everyone about the repair process. Also happy for you that you were able to inexpensively solve your issue. Like I said, I wasnt sure if any of the electro-mechanical portion of the drive was damaged (eg, motor or head movement coil) because of the over voltage, so I was pessimistic.

I have never disconnected an HDD's PCB. They appear to be attached electrically via a ribbon cable one end soldered to the PCB. Apparently reconnection of that cable was pretty straight forward/easy and that is good to know.

I would like to think that ultimately your example will turn out to help some Anandtechies recover from similar big trouble in any near future.