Changing boards of a hard drive

[Haytham Ghareeb]

Hi,
I have A WD 1 TB Hard Drive that was working ok but when I tried to put in my Thermaltaker case, it stopped working. I have read many possible ways to get it to work and have done all of them. I have bought a new 1TB WD disk and swapped the boards. It didn't work. It might be that the 2 disks had slightly different modal numbers like one was WDEarx and the other was WDEarz or something like that. Now, I returned the new board back to the new disk but it won't work. My question is this..could swapping boards have killed my new disk?

 

[Shaun o]

Yes that is the problem the boards may look the same, and the drives may both be of the same capacity.

But if the manufacture date between the drives is of a large time period.
Then the problem is related to the bios revision on the board controller.

X or z being the revision of the bios.
It has to be exactly the same revision to work.
And yes you can damage the board of the drive if you place it on another drive that had in the first place a different revision bios.
They may of also made a slight change to the circuit layout of the control board.
From X to Z.
That would result in damaging it.

Going on that basis, your not far off the mark as to why the new drive also does not work now.

Pretty much bang on the money as you suspected sorry to say.

 

[skrando]

Was your OS installed on this disk ? I don't think it would be because of the Motherboard.

 

[Haytham Ghareeb]

Yes that is the problem the boards may look the same, and the drives may both be of the same capacity.

But if the manufacture date between the drives is of a large time period.
Then the problem is related to the bios revision on the board controller.

X or z being the revision of the bios.
It has to be exactly the same revision to work.
And yes you can damage the board of the drive if you place it on another drive that had in the first place a different revision bios.
They may of also made a slight change to the circuit layout of the control board.
From X to Z.
That would result in damaging it.

Going on that basis, your not far off the mark as to why the new drive also does not work now.

Pretty much bang on the money as you suspected sorry to say.

Yup! Looks like I lost the new one too. The computer sees it when booting up but it doesn't show in win7 or in control panel so I am guessing I lost it.

 

[fzabkar]

You cannot swap PCBs in modern HDDs. Even HDDs manufactured in the same factory on the same day will have different "adaptive" data. These unique, drive specific data are stored in flash memory on the PCB. These data need to be transferred from patient to donor. Some PCB suppliers (eg http://www.hdd-parts.com) provide a free transfer service.

That said, swapping two compatible boards without a firmware transfer should not have damaged them (some Hitachi's can be corrupted, though). Perhaps the Thermaltake case damaged the first drive.

Did the original drive still spin up after the initial fault? If so, then the problem would most likely have been an internal one.

BTW, use a soft white pencil eraser to gently clean any oxidisation from the HDA contacts on the PCB.

If the original PCB doesn't spin up the drive, then check its TVS diodes. If either are shorted, then your Thermaltake case would have overvolted it.

See http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/TVS_diode_FAQ.html

... and http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/bigcircuitboard_diodes.jpg

 

[Haytham Ghareeb]

Thanks fzabkar. Your info. is appreciated. I have lost the older HD for good I am afraid. After losing hope, I thought I'd open it and see what it looks like inside. Wish I hadn't. As I was touching the plates there seems to be something like a metal feather that moves over the plates...It broke . I will try to focus on the new HD now and see why it's not working. I hate my new thermaltake case because all this happened after I tried that HD dock at the top.

 

[fzabkar]

It's too late now, but this is what is inside your HDD:

http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

 

[Haytham Ghareeb]

It's too late now, but this is what is inside your HDD:

http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

This is the part I messed with. Can I get this part from another HD and install it somehow or is it a hopeless case?

 

[fzabkar]

A head swap is not a DIY job. Worse still, you have introduced contaminants that may crash the new heads (you need a cleanroom). If you touched the platters, or scratched them, then it is a whole lot worse again.

Just FYI, see the head replacement tools and video tutorials at the following site:

http://www.hddsurgery.com/

Cheaper tools are available from this company:
http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=26580

 

[Haytham Ghareeb]

Thank you again. Life lessons are never free.