Hi Dear Wizards,
Some backstory, I was using the drive normally copying some items over when it suddenly self ejected with some power or usb warning i can't remember, and wouldn't detect. I could still see the drive in disk utility (MAC) but it can't be mounted (greyed out)
I brought the drive over to a PC and tried it, somehow it was working normally, so first instinct is to copy out all essential files and store it elsewhere. Midway thru, the drive hung again and windows became unresponsive until i plugged the drive out.
That was the last time i was able to detect the drive. It would still spin and start up, and those whirring sounds normally before a drive normally gets detected "connects" to the PC.
The only thing is that whirring sound would repeat and repeat like it's trying to connect but something is preventing it from doing so.
After some research and trying, i assumed it was a stuck head? I took the drive to the (Cleanest) room in my house, and To my desperation i opened the enclosure and everything seems fine. The platters look clean & undamaged, and the heads were in the parked position.
I tried pushing the heads back/forth and it seemingly moves around normally, and i have put it back into the parked position. I used a plastic spudger tool to do this.
I closed the enclosure, and still same issue occurred where it just could not be detected. And shortly after this, the drive stopped spinning all together.
To some further research, when a drive does not spin at all it is most likely the diodes/fuse dying on the pcb.
Thus me asking here on how to identify them as it does not have the "D" wording like other PCBS.
Needing some help here to identify which are the TVS Diodes from my WD HDD PCB. Pictures are in link below
DRIVE/PCB PHOTOS
Do you think my logic is accurate to assume the PCB is at fault or could there be any other possible causes. Do you think i have self sabotaged myself by opening up the drive enclosure?
I also have a second IDENTICAL drive (purchased at the same time) that i might want to use as a PCB donor perhaps or test if it is indeed the PCB at fault. I understand you need to solder the BIOS chip to the donor PCB correct? Could it be just put on and powered on, just for the sake of testing if it spins, or not? Without damaging anything.
All that matters to me is some precious pictures i have stored on the drive. And why i have not sent it to a drive repair specialist yet, is cause i can't afford to. I live in south east asia where most people are just straight up not willing to diagnose components individually, and would just quote an equivalent of $2000USD to recover my data. Really tacky situation!
Any help is much appreciated!
Some backstory, I was using the drive normally copying some items over when it suddenly self ejected with some power or usb warning i can't remember, and wouldn't detect. I could still see the drive in disk utility (MAC) but it can't be mounted (greyed out)
I brought the drive over to a PC and tried it, somehow it was working normally, so first instinct is to copy out all essential files and store it elsewhere. Midway thru, the drive hung again and windows became unresponsive until i plugged the drive out.
That was the last time i was able to detect the drive. It would still spin and start up, and those whirring sounds normally before a drive normally gets detected "connects" to the PC.
The only thing is that whirring sound would repeat and repeat like it's trying to connect but something is preventing it from doing so.
After some research and trying, i assumed it was a stuck head? I took the drive to the (Cleanest) room in my house, and To my desperation i opened the enclosure and everything seems fine. The platters look clean & undamaged, and the heads were in the parked position.
I tried pushing the heads back/forth and it seemingly moves around normally, and i have put it back into the parked position. I used a plastic spudger tool to do this.
I closed the enclosure, and still same issue occurred where it just could not be detected. And shortly after this, the drive stopped spinning all together.
To some further research, when a drive does not spin at all it is most likely the diodes/fuse dying on the pcb.
Thus me asking here on how to identify them as it does not have the "D" wording like other PCBS.
Needing some help here to identify which are the TVS Diodes from my WD HDD PCB. Pictures are in link below
DRIVE/PCB PHOTOS
Do you think my logic is accurate to assume the PCB is at fault or could there be any other possible causes. Do you think i have self sabotaged myself by opening up the drive enclosure?
I also have a second IDENTICAL drive (purchased at the same time) that i might want to use as a PCB donor perhaps or test if it is indeed the PCB at fault. I understand you need to solder the BIOS chip to the donor PCB correct? Could it be just put on and powered on, just for the sake of testing if it spins, or not? Without damaging anything.
All that matters to me is some precious pictures i have stored on the drive. And why i have not sent it to a drive repair specialist yet, is cause i can't afford to. I live in south east asia where most people are just straight up not willing to diagnose components individually, and would just quote an equivalent of $2000USD to recover my data. Really tacky situation!
Any help is much appreciated!
Last edited:
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