Question Hard drive issue

[WDougK]

LONG STORY

2008: Bought HP460US with Vista upgraded to Office 7 Pro.

2009-10: Bought and installed AutoCad LT

2013: Acquired both computer and above software for AutoCad LT

2020: Hurricane Sally flooded home and software for AutoCad LT was also flooded (discarded)

2023: Power surge destroyed motherboard, replaced MB, 80% of capacitors on PCB for hard drive test bad. Motor circuits test GOOD.

Hard drive has Windows 7 and all of AutoCad software and drawings. This version of AutoCad will NOT work on anything above Windows 7!!! Looking at replacing PCB for hard drive they all come with warning that this will not make your hard drive work??

Computer comes up, does not detect hard drive, and do not have bootable disc (Thank You Sally). It is sending the required 5v to the hard drive power terminals.

Where would you go from here? Trash it all, spend $1,000 for new computer and $500/year for AutoCad? Am on SS and income is VERY limited, this was basically a hobby that I really enjoyed working on that was removed in a wink of an eye!

Thanks for reading my rant and any insights would be appreciated, DOUG

 

[Lutfij]

If the data is valuable/mission critical to you, I'd hunt down a professional data recovery specialist and backup all data on the drive. Once done, build a system from the ground up and use a UPS/Surge protector to counter any flux in power from the wall.

 

[faalin]

what year is your AutoCAD LT? I have an engineer at work with windows 10 running AutoCAD 2000. You just have to right click the .exe before installing and going to Compatibility and selecting win 7 or XP and it will install and run.

 

[WDougK]

Think I over simplified the surge thing, have multiple devices operating 24/7 and none were affected, had several capacitors literally explode on MB that probably caused all the problems down the line. Most of the data is backed up on external hard drive, but with no AutoCad program it cannot be accessed. Not exactly sure of year but it was around 2009-10 and I tried loading it on a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 and it would not work. Lost that computer because cat peed on it while we were away for a couple of days and it was NOT salvageable. Cat urine if not immediately washed out of system with a lot of water will eat ALL the film traces it comes in contact with and that's just the start of the bad news! So has anyone successfully replaced PCB on a hard drive? All the codes for the boards PCB and MB match the original, so why wouldn't it work?

 

[punkncat]

If you have the inoperable drive in hand, and the PCB that is supposed to make it work, it would seem the only thing standing in the way of FAFO is your effort to make it so.

 

[USAFRet]

1. Is this for a paid gig, or hobbyist?

2. Are these AutoCAD files DWG format? Several free applications can open and use DWG.

All the codes for the boards PCB and MB match the original, so why wouldn't it work?

Some drives may need a BIOS chip transplant from one PCB to the other. It can be much more involved than jsut changing the board.



And this is a poster child example of why full drive backups are so important.

 

[USAFRet]

LibreCAD claims to natively read DWG files.

LibreCAD - Free Open Source 2D CAD

About — LibreCAD 2.2.0 documentation

docs.librecad.org

 

[Grobe]

2. Are these AutoCAD files DWG format? Several free applications can open and use DWG.

AutoCAD dwg files are notorious for being unable to open without AutoCAD itself, and it has to be same version number as the files was created under, or a newer version of Autocad.

Practical examples - I had some AutoCAD files created around 1999 and without a proper Autocad licence, using free open source software did not work. Both Inksacape and LibreCAD was tested, but was not able to open the vendor locked dwg files.

There is this autodesk Trueviewer that is actually able to open and print all sort of dwg files (saved by Autocad), but offer no way to convert to an open format.

LibreCAD claims to natively read DWG files.

Yes, partially true. But there are many generations of DWG-files, and dwg files stored by LibreCAD isn't the same format as stored by Autocad. Most probably, you cannot properly open a DWG file stored by Autocad using LibreCAD.


You have to remember that Autodesk doesn't want their users to flee to open source alternatives.

 

[USAFRet]

You have to remember that Autodesk doesn't want their users to flee to open source alternatives.

Right.

I just put that out there as 'free to try'.


FreeCAD also has an import function that might work.

FreeCAD and DWG Import - FreeCAD Documentation

wiki.freecad.org

 

[WDougK]

Paid Gig? That's a joke, right? They are all DWG format. Transferred original CPU to this MB and seems to be working okay. Will order PCB for hard drive and post results, was just wondering if anyone has done this successfully in the past?

 

[USAFRet]

Paid Gig? That's a joke, right? They are all DWG format. Transferred original CPU to this MB and seems to be working okay. Will order PCB for hard drive and post results, was just wondering if anyone has done this successfully in the past?

As said...sometimes it is not that easy with a drive PCB.

 

[WDougK]

Install new hard drive PCB and got the following error message "TOSHIBA-F3-F100-003" so MB is seeing hard drive, but HD is not spinning up. Installed HD in Suretech HD encloser that I know works and got nothing would not even power up. So how do you test motor on hard drive to see if it's good?
Opened hard drive and heads were in outside position, disk and motor spun freely and heads moved 1/4" toward the middle of disk, "clicked" and would not move in either direction with disc being spun by hand. Closed HD back up, no noticeable damage to internal mechanisms or disk that was apparent. Would this locked position of head be why it is not spinning? How do you properly check motor on hard drive? Based on reading it is a 3phase motor and the only thing I have checked is OHM readings across the three contacts for motor. Two of the three circuits tested the same and the third circuit tested at a lower ohm reading. It is my understanding this is the way it should test out? Any thing you can suggest is greatly appreciated.

 

[faalin]

"Opened hard drive and heads were in outside position" Once you opened the case on the drive you introduced dust particles to the platters, you have ruined any chance of getting data off that drive.....unless you magically had a clean room built in your house.

 

[WDougK]

faalin, not only is it dust proof it is mold proof for mushroom cultures about 100 times better than dust proof so please post help not criticism

 

[Grobe]

faalin, not only is it dust proof it is mold proof for mushroom cultures about 100 times better than dust proof so please post help not criticism

His response seems pretty helpful to me, seemingly preventing you from taking actions that is more likely to not ending well.

The opposite would be bad, you won't see any seasoned forum users tell you to go ahead and slam this hdd into place after lid being opened and all mechanism exposed to whatever air in your proximity, and just have a good solid lie by asserting that this setup may last hundreds of years.

It is - very hard to underestimate how delicate the hard drive mechanism actually are.

Therefor this comparison: Say you want to break the land speed record in a rocket car. You would preferably do so in a desert where no major bumps occurs. So when it turns out the whole dessert is littered with huge stone block everywhere so that you cannot locate one straight path at a reasonable distance , would you still attempt to break the land speed record there ?

 

[WDougK]

No helpful advice, am well aware of possible damage to opening HD, if it proves to be fatal so what HD is non-responsive as is, would like answers to questions not opinions as to procedure.
FAILING ONLY MEANS YOU TRIED, NOTHING ELSE IS ACCEPTABLE

 

[NorbertPlays]

would like answers to questions not opinions as to procedure

The first reply you got - "I'd hunt down a professional data recovery specialist and backup all data on the drive" - was the answer. You seem to have already made your mind up what the the only answer you'll accept is (i.e. repair it yourself) despite multiple people telling you that the result will likely be somewhere between "isn't as easy as you think and probably won't work" to "you will totally destroy it making any chance of recovery impossible", and then get angry/defensive when people suggest legitimate concerns. Failing may "only mean you tried", but if it irrevocably destroys any hope you had of recovering the data "I tried" is not going to be much of a consolation.

As far as I see it you have two viable options:

1. Take it to someone who knows what they're doing, recover your data, PROFIT!
2. Thrash around yourself with no clue what you're doing, potentially destroy the drive completely, and yell at everyone.

 

[DSzymborski]

Being rude to our posters is a non-starter. This thread has run its course.

In any case, you've gotten the correct answer: this is no longer a user-servicable problem. You replaced the PCB, but once you started messing around with the internals in this way, it became a very expensive problem only for a professional to (maybe) solve.