PCB fault on 3.5 HDD? Really?

[largeinbox]

I have a Seagate Barracuda 3.5 2TB since 2014, 2 weeks ago I couldn't boot up my Win 10 PC, as it was stuck in blue screen of death (NTES_FILE_SYSTEM error)

Bios and Windows no longer could see the drive. As soon as I unplug the drive (Its not the boot drive), PC boots fine.

Took it to a repair shop which has 5* Google review in London and being top on result page, they claim it was a PCB fault and quoted £450 + VAT (20%). I said it was too much, so they put it down to £395 + VAT (20%).

Today I collected a new drive that they copied onto, all the files are recovered, nothing is lost.

I asked to see the old drive, they said they used donor part, download the adaptive data etc and extract the data. But I can see not much evidence the drive was opened at all, and they said they have already put back my old PCB on the HDD.

I want to ask, does this sound like a PCB fault? Because they charged quite a lot if it wasn't the case. I feel the HDD had no PCB fault and it was something minor. How can I prove it?

Exact wording of the problem here

Your hard drive has been fully examined by a qualified data recovery technician and we estimate that your data will be recoverable. The hard disk suffers from a damaged electronic circuit indicating some burnt electronic components. The Printed Circuit Board (PCB) on the hard drive has to be repaired or replaced and the EPROM software module on the original chip has be transferred from the faulty circuit board to the new PCB. After repairing the PCB and transferring the EPROM module, the data container on the repaired disk will become accessible allowing us to reconstruct the file system so that the data can be extracted.This process from beginning to completion will be 1-5 working days. We will be able to recover the data. Full data confidentiality and non-disclosure of data is guaranteed.

 

[Lucian Dragos]

If it was a PCB fault then they would not have to open the drive at all.. If you head over to Linus Tech Tips youtube channel they have a few video on data recovery.. including one where they deal with a bad PCB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyr14_B230o

 

[DSzymborski]

A PCB issue *is* something minor in a broken hard drive. If the PCB is fine, then it's usually a far more expensive data salvaging challenge, not a repair.

This price isn't unreasonable. You haven't been able to simply swap PCBs for a long time because of the adaptive data on modern hard drives. If it was something they had to open the hard drive up for, that could easily have been two or three times this price (or more).

There was a £50 option. This consists of backing up crucial data and then spending £50 on a new hard drive.

 

[largeinbox]

A PCB issue *is* something minor in a broken hard drive. If the PCB is fine, then it's usually a far more expensive data salvaging challenge, not a repair.

This price isn't unreasonable. You haven't been able to simply swap PCBs for a long time because of the adaptive data on modern hard drives. If it was something they had to open the hard drive up for, that could easily have been two or three times this price (or more).

Thank you Lucian for the video, very helpful!

I just spoke with the boss there, they told me they have done this

1. Use latest technology to remove the chip from my faulty PCB
2. Put it onto a donor PCB
3. Extract data.
4. Use latest technology to remove the chip from donor PCB and put back onto faulty PCB

This is why it cannot be seen with naked eye the chip has been removed at all.

Would you believe this?

 

[Lucian Dragos]

If done right then yes. If it had a bad PCB then there really is no other way they got your data off the old drive

 

[largeinbox]

If done right then yes. If it had a bad PCB then there really is no other way they got your data off the old drive

I am trying to prove the PCB was not faulty, and no bios extraction was done and it was a much easier fix.

I ask them why they would put the bios back on a faulty chip, knowing it wouldn't work, doesn't really make sense.

 

[DSzymborski]

A PCB issue *is* something minor in a broken hard drive. If the PCB is fine, then it's usually a far more expensive data salvaging challenge, not a repair.

This price isn't unreasonable. You haven't been able to simply swap PCBs for a long time because of the adaptive data on modern hard drives. If it was something they had to open the hard drive up for, that could easily have been two or three times this price (or more).

Thank you Lucian for the video, very helpful!

I just spoke with the boss there, they told me they have done this

1. Use latest technology to remove the chip from my faulty PCB
2. Put it onto a donor PCB
3. Extract data.
4. Use latest technology to remove the chip from donor PCB and put back onto faulty PCB

This is why it cannot be seen with naked eye the chip has been removed at all.

Would you believe this?

Why not? You have your data. To get that, they either had to replace the PCB or they had to dissect your hard drive to salvage the data. If they didn't replace the PCB then they would have been doing a salvage under laboratory conditions and you'd more likely be paying £700-£1000 before VAT.

 

[DSzymborski]

If done right then yes. If it had a bad PCB then there really is no other way they got your data off the old drive

I am trying to prove the PCB was not faulty, and no bios extraction was done and it was a much easier fix.

I ask them why they would put the bios back on a faulty chip, knowing it wouldn't work, doesn't really make sense.

Sounds more like you're trying to get out of your very reasonable payment for services now that you have your data.

If the PCB was not faulty, this was a *far* more expensive operation.

There's no such thing as a "minor" physical error in a hard drive. A PCB *is* the most minor physical damage you can have on a hard drive.

 

[largeinbox]

Why not? You have your data. To get that, they either had to replace the PCB or they had to dissect your hard drive to salvage the data. If they didn't replace the PCB then they would have been doing a salvage under laboratory conditions and you'd more likely be paying £700-£1000 before VAT.

It definitely wasn't a salvage job, I guess that is done sector by sector and it is time consuming.

My data is complete and perfectly recovered, I am just need to be convinced PCB was the issue, not a loose socket etc. What are the other faults that would bring a blue screen of death?

 

[Lucian Dragos]

the drive doesn't look like anything else was tampered with right? does it still not pickup in your BIOS? Is returning a old drive the way it came in a policy of theirs?. those are the only real way to tell if the work has been done...
but to be fair that is a fairly cheap price for any kind of professional data recovery... that kind of service can normally run into into the 1500+ range

 

[largeinbox]

Sounds more like you're trying to get out of your very reasonable payment for services now that you have your data.

If the PCB was not faulty, this was a *far* more expensive operation.

There's no such thing as a "minor" physical error in a hard drive. A PCB *is* the most minor physical damage you can have on a hard drive.

I don't want money back at all, I just want to make sure they were honest. Thank you for your input!

 

[Peter Martin]

i believe it.

 

[DSzymborski]

Sounds more like you're trying to get out of your very reasonable payment for services now that you have your data.

If the PCB was not faulty, this was a *far* more expensive operation.

There's no such thing as a "minor" physical error in a hard drive. A PCB *is* the most minor physical damage you can have on a hard drive.

I don't want money back at all, I just want to make sure they were honest. Thank you for your input!

If the connector had been broken, the solution would have been...a new PCB.

If they were scamming you, lying about a necessary repair so that they could give you the least expensive repair would be an absolutely terrible scam.

 

[fzabkar]

A bad PCB would most likely not prevent the system from booting. That would be very unusual. In any case, a PCB swap and "firmware transfer" should have cost you only US$50. I recommend hdd-parts.com (I have no affiliation with this supplier).

 

[largeinbox]

The following is the engineer's response, they no longer say the chip was removed and reinstalled....


There are instances where the PCB would be functional to the extent that the kernel can be accessed via the terminal port, as in your case. We therefore did not need to recourse to any soldering or chip removal, as we were able to download and then upload the contents of the ROM (or BIOS) to a fully-functional PCB. There must have been a misunderstanding, as I would not have mentioned a chip removal technique that would not leave any trace, since it does not exist.

 

[largeinbox]

A bad PCB would most likely not prevent the system from booting. That would be very unusual. In any case, a PCB swap and "firmware transfer" should have cost you only US$50. I recommend hdd-parts.com (I have no affiliation with this supplier).

Could you think of the fault that would result in blue screen? The drive was not where Windows located.

 

[fzabkar]

If the shop didn't need to remove the "BIOS" chip (an 8-pin serial flash memory), and if no internal work was required, then there is no reason why your faulty drive should not have been returned in its original state. Could we see the "burnt components"?

Reading the BIOS chip on a functional PCB can be done in "Boot ROM mode" via the 4-pin diagnostic/terminal connector at the edge of the PCB using data recovery software. A cheaper way would be to use an SOIC clip and a US$5 device programmer. The latter method works on dead PCBs.

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=110&t=85

For a PCB swap, including firmware transfer, this is all you need:
https://www.hdd-parts.com/14082401.html (US$50)

As for the blue screen, I can't recall any thread in any data recovery forum where a Seagate PCB fault produced such a symptom. I'm not saying it isn't possible, though. In those cases where an HDD prevents the system from booting, the usual cause is bad heads or bad media. Hybrid drives (with NAND flash) can hang the system in cases where the NAND is faulty, but I expect that yours is a pure mechanical HDD.