Help resurrecting a fried PATA drive

[brancamonti]

I think I fried an old hdd that has important data in it by plugging it in while the computer was running.
I'm kind of a noob in hardware so I was used to the SATA drives that can be plugged/unplugged with the computer running and stuff.
The IDE cable was already connected, but when I connected the hdd to the psu, the computer restarted itself and it no longer recognized the hdd. I heard no sounds, and it doesn't look like it's literally fried, but as I'm a begginer in this kind of stuff I want to hear opinions from experienced people.

The hdd itself doesn't spin when plugged to a computer, so I was wondering if maybe it's the pcb that's 'fried' and it can be fixed.

Thanks in advance.

 

[13thmonkey]

very unlikely, you could replace the board, BUT (and this important) you need an identical one, down the the firmware level, so realistically you've got to be damn lucky.

DO NOT open the drive. That will prevent any other options from being viable.

Other options then work out to be repairing the board, (more likely on an older drive than a newer one) but you'll need a very good electronics person to help with that, or a data recovery service, but that'll cost a lot.

 

[SkyNetRising]

If your data is important, then get help from professional data recovery services (it will cost considerably).
Or else you'll probably make data completely unrecoverable.

 

[brancamonti]

very unlikely, you could replace the board, BUT (and this important) you need an identical one, down the the firmware level, so realistically you've got to be damn lucky.

DO NOT open the drive. That will prevent any other options from being viable.

Other options then work out to be repairing the board, (more likely on an older drive than a newer one) but you'll need a very good electronics person to help with that, or a data recovery service, but that'll cost a lot.

How do I find out the firmware version? I already found the same HDD on the internet, the only thing that varies in all the information provided is the serial number. It's a Hitachi HDS728080PLAT20 82.3GB HDD.

I want to find the exact same drive. How do I make sure that's its an exact match?


UPDATE: I googled for a while and apparently the first two lines in the bigger chip have to match, as well as the first two lines in the little sticker found in the bottom area. I found THIS DRIVE and everything matches, is it safe to assume that it should work if I replace it properly?

 

[13thmonkey]

very unlikely, you could replace the board, BUT (and this important) you need an identical one, down the the firmware level, so realistically you've got to be damn lucky.

DO NOT open the drive. That will prevent any other options from being viable.

Other options then work out to be repairing the board, (more likely on an older drive than a newer one) but you'll need a very good electronics person to help with that, or a data recovery service, but that'll cost a lot.

How do I find out the firmware version? I already found the same HDD on the internet, the only thing that varies in all the information provided is the serial number. It's a Hitachi HDS728080PLAT20 82.3GB HDD.

I want to find the exact same drive. How do I make sure that's its an exact match?


UPDATE: I googled for a while and apparently the first two lines in the bigger chip have to match, as well as the first two lines in the little sticker found in the bottom area. I found THIS DRIVE and everything matches, is it safe to assume that it should work if I replace it properly?

It's safe to assume nothing. It might work, it might not, it might make it worse.

 

[brancamonti]

If your data is important, then get help from professional data recovery services (it will cost considerably).
Or else you'll probably make data completely unrecoverable.

It's not mine, it's from a friend and I doubt he's gonna be happy if it costs a lot. And I don't even have money for a data recovery service... Am I screwed?

 

[13thmonkey]

If you can't afford a data recovery company (get a quote for that type of damage perhaps not too bad), then the donor drive is your only option, as you can't make it more irretrievable than it already is if you can't afford it.

 

[brancamonti]

very unlikely, you could replace the board, BUT (and this important) you need an identical one, down the the firmware level, so realistically you've got to be damn lucky.

DO NOT open the drive. That will prevent any other options from being viable.

Other options then work out to be repairing the board, (more likely on an older drive than a newer one) but you'll need a very good electronics person to help with that, or a data recovery service, but that'll cost a lot.

How do I find out the firmware version? I already found the same HDD on the internet, the only thing that varies in all the information provided is the serial number. It's a Hitachi HDS728080PLAT20 82.3GB HDD.

I want to find the exact same drive. How do I make sure that's its an exact match?


UPDATE: I googled for a while and apparently the first two lines in the bigger chip have to match, as well as the first two lines in the little sticker found in the bottom area. I found THIS DRIVE and everything matches, is it safe to assume that it should work if I replace it properly?

It's safe to assume nothing. It might work, it might not, it might make it worse.

Well, I guess I'll have to risk it. Do you know if there's any way to be sure if the problem i's the board or the motor? Thanks for the help so far

 

[13thmonkey]

Without deep electronics knowledge, no.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Swapping PCB of the drive may not be that simple.
There might be drive calibration data written onto onboard EPROM chip.
In that case, calibration data must be copied or EPROM chip transferred to second board.

As I said before - better get help from professional data recovery services.

 

[13thmonkey]

Swapping PCB of the drive may not be that simple.
There might be drive calibration data written onto onboard EPROM chip.
In that case, calibration data must be copied or EPROM chip transferred to second board.

As I said before - better get help from professional data recovery services.

Agree, however, if that is not an option then the data is lost regardless. So it is worth a try.

 

[brancamonti]

Thanks to both - you helped a lot. I'll do some research before trying, or I'll try to find someone with the skills and knowledge to do it.