Question regarding HD BIOS IC's. Must the original chip be swapped out when replacing a PCB?

[digitaldrama]

Hi,

First time poster, long time lurker. I am in need of a new PCB board for a hard drive. I busted the SATA connector (I actually did this to two drives, like a sausage fingered ape might do).
Elsewhere in a forum post, I read this:

This is not true, a PCB swap will NOT work on most modern drives, you MUST transfer the firmware chip as it contains drive specific data. If you're not comfortable doing this soldering work, I'd bring it to a local electronics repair show and have them move the chip for you.

I need clarification here. Must I switch the BIOS IC from the original to the freshly purchased PCB, or if I purchase one with the same Rev # will it work without all the nasty soldering? Is the original BIOS IC specific to THE original drive alone, or can it just match model and REV # e.g. WD10EZEX 2061-771824-XXX REV A. There seems to be a whole lot of extraneous numbers on a PCB. I am sure some of them are super important. How many of these numbers must match the original to make it a perfect (non-soldering) match.

I am more curious than anything else. I don't have a soldering phobia. My first thought, when reading, that the chip must be switched was, " What happens if the original BIOS IC was fragged or corrupted somehow.

Any help appreciated

 

[Pinhedd]

Hi,

First time poster, long time lurker. I am in need of a new PCB board for a hard drive. I busted the SATA connector (I actually did this to two drives, like a sausage fingered ape might do).
Elsewhere in a forum post, I read this:

This is not true, a PCB swap will NOT work on most modern drives, you MUST transfer the firmware chip as it contains drive specific data. If you're not comfortable doing this soldering work, I'd bring it to a local electronics repair show and have them move the chip for you.

I need clarification here. Must I switch the BIOS IC from the original to the freshly purchased PCB, or if I purchase one with the same Rev # will it work without all the nasty soldering? Is the original BIOS IC specific to THE original drive alone, or can it just match model and REV # e.g. WD10EZEX 2061-771824-XXX REV A. There seems to be a whole lot of extraneous numbers on a PCB. I am sure some of them are super important. How many of these numbers must match the original to make it a perfect (non-soldering) match.

I am more curious than anything else. I don't have a soldering phobia. My first thought, when reading, that the chip must be switched was, " What happens if the original BIOS IC was fragged or corrupted somehow.

Any help appreciated

Historically the hard disk drive's firmware, settings, and metadata have been stored on the mechanical platters themselves in an area known as the "Service Area" that is outside of the range logically addressable over the IO bus (that is to say that the computer cannot read from the service area under normal operating conditions).

The service area contains information such as S.M.A.R.T data, a list of defective sectors identified at the factory, a list of defective sectors that are detected during operation, reserved sectors (for remapping defective sectors), a list of defective sector remaps, configuration and tuning parameters, and the hard disk drive's operating system.

The PCB contains the hard disk controller (a set of ARM microcontrollers), some RAM, and a minimal boot ROM which identifies the drive and enables the controller to read the drive's OS and configuration data from the service area. Once the HDD's OS is up and running it can start accepting and responding to ATA/SCSI commands from the IO bus.

The trouble with swapping PCBs is that while the boot ROM may be identical, the drive-specific metadata may not be (edit: for example, if there's a defect in the service area itself the modules may be laid out differently from drive to drive). If it's not compatible, the hard disk controller will not be able to properly interpret the service area and the drive will not be able to operate.

So yes, you must transfer the device that contains the unique aspects of the firmware from one PCB to another. This can be a time consuming task and may result in failure if your soldering techniques are not sufficient.

 

[Y0GI]

The quoted text is correct. The firmware chip must be transferred. Here is a recommendation for someone who can do it for you:

With respect, you may be better off engaging someone to do the work for you. Try your local TV/AV repair shop.

Alternatively, the following suppliers will sell you a replacement PCB and include a free firmware transfer.

http://www.onepcbsolution.com/
http://www.hdd-parts.com/

Yogi