hard disk power failure?

[Alex Hunsley]

Looking for some hints on possible ways to recover data from a HD that
has been damaged by a faulty power supply that blew on me (PSU produced
a spark then died).

The disk in question is a Seagate Barracuda SATA V (80gb), firmware
3.01. It was connected to a Q-TEC noise quiet power supply (via a
converter that makes a normal ATX power lead into SATA drive power
connection). I powered on the machine, the power supply blew, I swapped
in another power supply to find that my machine would not power on - the
PSU fan wouldn´t even budge - if the SATA drive was attached to the PSU.
If I disconnect the SATA drive from the PSU, bingo, my machine starts up
and the other hard disk (IDE), still connected, is found.

So, the question is, given that the circuitry on the SATA drive is
probably blown, is there a way to recover my data? Say, by buying
another drive of the same type and transplanting the circuit board or
controller etc? I´ve heard of such things working before... and AFAICT
the platters/disk surface are unharmed so the data is still there.

I'm techy and not afraid to get my hands dirty, but what is possible?
I´t would be great to recover the data, but not worth 600UKP or whatever
it would cost for professional recovery service!

thanks
alex

 

[Leo]

but not worth 600UKP or whatever
it would cost for professional recovery service!

The good prices at you...
I want same ;-).
At us it costs $20-50, including repair of your drive. If only PCB
burns, and HDA is good.

Leonid

 

[Alex Hunsley]

The good prices at you...
I want same ;-).
At us it costs $20-50, including repair of your drive.

You mean in the united states?

If only PCB
burns, and HDA is good.

Leonid

What is HDA?

thanks
alex

 

[J. Clarke]

Looking for some hints on possible ways to recover data from a HD that
has been damaged by a faulty power supply that blew on me (PSU produced
a spark then died).

The disk in question is a Seagate Barracuda SATA V (80gb), firmware
3.01. It was connected to a Q-TEC noise quiet power supply (via a
converter that makes a normal ATX power lead into SATA drive power
connection). I powered on the machine, the power supply blew, I swapped
in another power supply to find that my machine would not power on - the
PSU fan wouldn´t even budge - if the SATA drive was attached to the PSU.
If I disconnect the SATA drive from the PSU, bingo, my machine starts up
and the other hard disk (IDE), still connected, is found.

So, the question is, given that the circuitry on the SATA drive is
probably blown, is there a way to recover my data? Say, by buying
another drive of the same type and transplanting the circuit board or
controller etc? I´ve heard of such things working before... and AFAICT
the platters/disk surface are unharmed so the data is still there.

I'm techy and not afraid to get my hands dirty, but what is possible?
I´t would be great to recover the data, but not worth 600UKP or whatever
it would cost for professional recovery service!

Finding an identical drive and replacing the circuit board _may_ work.
There is no guarantee on that.

If the data is not of sufficient value to justify a professional data
recovery service and you want to try to recover it mainly to learn a little
bit about data recovery with the understand that your attempt may destroy
it beyond all hope of recovery, then by all means give it a shot.

 

[Alexander Grigoriev]

There is usually pre-amplifier on HDA, and it might be fried, too.

 

[Leo]

You mean in the united states?

No, in Russia.

For Seagate drives in your case with probability of 90 % a problem
only with PCB. Preamp into HDA may be dead also, but usually thus are
burned chips on logic board. You can measure resistance between power
and ground pins. If resistance between +5 and ground will be not less
than 1.5-2 K, this means most likely drive logic and preamp are good.

What is HDA?

Hard Disk Assembly.

Leonid

 

[Odie Ferrous]

Alex Hunsley wrote:

Alex,

I can help and am based in the UK.

Odie

 

[Alex Hunsley]

Alex Hunsley wrote:

Alex,

I can help and am based in the UK.

Odie

Hi there!
I believe I've already emailed you at the company in your sig (or someone else
there, anyway!)

May well be using your services shortly...

alex

 

[Alex Hunsley]

No, in Russia.




For Seagate drives in your case with probability of 90 % a problem
only with PCB. Preamp into HDA may be dead also, but usually thus are
burned chips on logic board. You can measure resistance between power
and ground pins. If resistance between +5 and ground will be not less
than 1.5-2 K, this means most likely drive logic and preamp are good.

thanks, I'll try this!

alex

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Hi there!
I believe I've already emailed you at the company in your sig (or someone
else there, anyway!)

May well be using your services shortly...

If I were you I'd do a bit of research on our Odie first.