Suggestions to resurrect a dead IBM Deskstar

[Ariana]

Hello all,

I've been reading this newsgroup for about five minutes now, and I
already know that there is strong feeling about the quality of IBM
Deskstars (or lack thereof). So I can imagine what responses might
arise if I say I have a now defunct Deskstar 60GB hard drive which I
would like to resurrect!

Before anyone tells me just how rubbish they are, I have to be fair
and mention that mine got zapped by the explosion of my computer's
power supply, which isn't really its fault (though my 10-year-old
floppy drive and really crap CD writer survived unscathed, much to my
disappointment).

The current situation with my Deskstar is that it won't even spin up,
let alone make itself known to the Bios. The question is whether there
is any hope of bringing it back to life myself (replacing the pcb, for
instance - but where would I get one for a drive two years old?) or
even with the help of someone else (suggestions welcome).

Ariana

 

[Mark Seeley]

The current situation with my Deskstar is that it won't even spin up,

let alone make itself known to the Bios. The question is whether there
is any hope of bringing it back to life myself (replacing the pcb, for
instance - but where would I get one for a drive two years old?) or
even with the help of someone else (suggestions welcome).

If it was taken out by a power spike, there's still a chance the drive is
recoverable - as you mention, replacing the PCB is the most likely solution.
It's not guaranteed, but if you have valuable data it's worth a try. I'd
check eBay and see if you can pick up one of the same model which has died
anothe way... mostly it's mechanical failure, so you may get one with a good
PCB.

Mark

 

[Al Dykes]

If it was taken out by a power spike, there's still a chance the drive is
recoverable - as you mention, replacing the PCB is the most likely solution.
It's not guaranteed, but if you have valuable data it's worth a try. I'd
check eBay and see if you can pick up one of the same model which has died
anothe way... mostly it's mechanical failure, so you may get one with a good
PCB.

Mark

You need to get a board that matches the revision of your's, extacly.
I know someone that did this to get some critical data and he would
up buying 3 drives to get the exact rev level.

 

[Ariana]

solution.

You need to get a board that matches the revision of your's, extacly.
I know someone that did this to get some critical data and he would
up buying 3 drives to get the exact rev level.

This is pretty much what I was afraid of. The drive was produced in July
2001 and I'm getting a needle in haystack nightmare at the thought of trying
to track down an identical model. OTOH, I did get 3 hits on Google on the
model number, so I'll keep my hopes up.

So, anyone got an IBM Deskstar model IC35L06AVER07-0 they feel like shipping
to the UK?

Ariana

 

[Mark Seeley]

This is pretty much what I was afraid of. The drive was produced in July
2001 and I'm getting a needle in haystack nightmare at the thought of trying
to track down an identical model. OTOH, I did get 3 hits on Google on the
model number, so I'll keep my hopes up.

So, anyone got an IBM Deskstar model IC35L06AVER07-0 they feel like shipping
to the UK?

Ariana

Mine's a slightly different model unfortunately - 60GXP 60Gig, model
IC35L060AVVA07-0.

I'm still looking for a logic board from an IBM 37.5Gig 5400rpm drive -
noone seems to have any.

Mark

 

[Leo]

So, anyone got an IBM Deskstar model IC35L06AVER07-0 they feel like shipping
to the UK?

IC35L060AVER07-0? You can try to replace a PCB from any IC35L0x0AVER
(up to 60Gb) and to listen to a sound. If there will be a sound of
rotation of a spindle and one silent click (If HDD will not
initialized correctly), you can look for same revision PCB from the
same capacity HDD (if you have no ability to adapt a PCB of other
revision, with program way or the soldering of microchips). Else, if
you will hear only a sound of rotation of a spindle, or continuous
click-click - situation is more bad, your drive have a dead preamp
into HDA.
I do not know the prices in UK, but at us recovery of the data by
professional service in case of malfunction only of PCB costs more
cheaply, than purchase same HDD ;-)

 

[Ariana]

"Ariana" <[email protected]> wrote in message

I do not know the prices in UK, but at us recovery of the data by
professional service in case of malfunction only of PCB costs more
cheaply, than purchase same HDD ;-)

Believe me, the prices in the UK are bound to be more expensive than where
you are. And you don't need to be in Russia for that to be true!

So far all the UK places I've seen advertised online quote about £700 to
recover 60GB of data. I can probably live without the originals of my
honeymoon photos for that price! Hell, for that price, my husband and I
could go on another honeymoon and take some more photos. <g>

Thanks for the advice, though. I'll keep an eye out for that type of hard
drive and get a replacement in the meantime. Speaking of which, any
recommendations?

Ariana

 

[Leo]

Thanks for the advice, though. I'll keep an eye out for that type of hard
drive and get a replacement in the meantime. Speaking of which, any
recommendations?

Drive must be "AVER", and the same or smaller capacity, as yours. In
your case you may try any 60GXP drive, 60Gb is a maximum capacity for
this model. PCB revision it is not specified on labels, etc.,
therefore at simple replacement it is possible to try only. For AVER
the probability of success is not equal to zero, as against some other
models.
But after failure of the power supply, and heads preamplifier burns
very much frequently. Sometimes even with a smoke which settles on
platters.

Leonid