Western Digital controller board

J

johnnyzero

I'm trying to resurrect a "dead" Western Digital 40gb drive in order to
do some data recovery - it's a model WD400BB-00CLBO.

I was able to locate another controller board which has the exact same
part number as the original (2060-001092-006), but it's from the 20gb
"version" of the same drive - a WD200BB. When I install the new board,
the drive will now spin-up, but I only get the continuous
thrashing/clacking sound of the heads against the platters. I noticed
that XP's Device Mangler recognizes the drive as a WD*200*BB, so I know
that this is the problem.

Is there any way to make this board work with a WD400BB? Since it's the
same exact WD part number, I was thinking that they're must be a way of
configuring it for use with a 400 - perhaps a jumper, trace, or even a
resistor that you can change. Or is the drive type permamantly stored
in an EEPROM or whatever at the time of manufacture?

Any help will be MUCH appreciated. I can certainly buy another
controller board from a WD400BB, but I'd prefer to be able to use this
board if possible.

best,
JohnB
 
F

Folkert Rienstra

johnnyzero said:
I'm trying to resurrect a "dead" Western Digital 40gb drive in order to
do some data recovery - it's a model WD400BB-00CLBO.

I was able to locate another controller board which has the exact same
part number as the original (2060-001092-006), but it's from the 20gb
"version" of the same drive - a WD200BB. When I install the new board,
the drive will now spin-up, but I only get the continuous
thrashing/clacking sound of the heads against the platters.
I noticed that XP's Device Mangler recognizes the drive as a
WD*200*BB, so I know that this is the problem.

Well, that is a bit unsuspected, to say the least.
Sounds like WD changed their policy somewhere along the line.
Is there any way to make this board work with a WD400BB? Since it's the
same exact WD part number, I was thinking that they're must be a way of
configuring it for use with a 400 - perhaps a jumper, trace, or even a
resistor that you can change.
Or is the drive type permamantly stored in an EEPROM or whatever at
the time of manufacture?

Most likely.
Any help will be MUCH appreciated. I can certainly buy another
controller board from a WD400BB, but I'd prefer to be able to use this
board if possible.

Possibly a firmware download for the WD400 might work, but where to get it.
 
F

Frodo

Any current ATA/IDE controller will work with a WD 40GB drive
or any EIDE controller made in the past 5 years.
It sounds like the drive itself is too defective to work with any
controller.
For $300 to $700 a data recovery place could retrieve data from any
undamaged platter(s).
 
J

johnnyzero

Frodo said:
Any current ATA/IDE controller will work with a WD 40GB drive
or any EIDE controller made in the past 5 years.
It sounds like the drive itself is too defective to work with any
controller.

Thanks for the input, Frodo - but we're talking about the controller
circuit board on the DRIVE ITSELF, not ATA/IDE controller cards.

JohnB
 
R

rayzz

try going to hdd-911.com its a russian site so u might need to use a
translator to get around in the site download there program victoria ver 3.33
after you boot to this program there is a command RDC that you can use it
will reset the board with the hda so it will change to right capacity as well
as change it to read as the wd400bb also alot of time on the western digital
bb models they get a bad suction problem in the hda if you loosen all the
screws around the edge on the lid and pop the lid to get some air in the hda
it will start working normal agian and it will stop making the sound your
hearing
 
J

johnnyzero

Thanks for the good info, rayzz. That Victoria program sounds like it
might do the trick (if anything will). I use a translation extension
for Firefox, so that should allow me to navigate the russian site well
enuf.

I'll keep you posted.

best,
JohnB
 
A

Alan Kakareka

Some "smart" motherboards cut the end of HDD and keep their backup BIOS
settings and copy of MBR.
Also NHPA command from MHDD program should uncut it.

--
--
Alan Kakareka
Data Recovery Service
786-253-8286 cell
http://www.247recovery.com
--
 

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