I've done similar to what Brian recommended with good success. If the motor is burnt out though, you may be out of luck, but buying used drives and swapping the whole electronics board works great. Just make sure the models match.
Matt Smollinger Application Engineer for Convergence Tech. AdvancedAV ATG (m)610-304-1204 (o)610-431-6174 > From: Brian Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:32:09 -0500 > To: 'g4u-help' <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [g4u-help] Rescue Older Western Digital WD200 (20 Gb) > > I've had very good success with purchasing used drives online as well as > from ebay to fix similar problems. In many cases the problem is the circuit > board and swaping it works fine. Generally there are only 4-5 torxhead > screws to remove and the surface contacts between the board and the drive > should match up even if if the used drive you buy has a slightly different > board revision or has a different firmware version installed. A quick search > on ebay found this sale showing a used WD200 drive for $0.01 > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140159259848. This would > be a whole lot cheaper than having a data recovery company extract the data > for you. If it doesn't work, you're only out a few bucks. > > Brian > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Behalf Of Robert L Cochran > Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 8:21 PM > To: g4u-help > Subject: [g4u-help] Rescue Older Western Digital WD200 (20 Gb) > > > A friend's Western Digital WD200 drive crashed. The system BIOS does not > see the drive. This means software won't see the drive either. It is > like the drive motor has burned out or perhaps a voltage regulator has > gone. My question is, does this type of drive failure indicate a > possible bad circuit board part? Are there parts on the drive I might > try replacing just to see if I can bring the drive to life just long > enough to get the data off it? I have a small lab here and I'm able to > solder surface mount and/or through-hole parts as needed. > > If a consensus emerges that this is a practical idea to try...my next > question is can I get replacement circuit board components from the > drive manufacturer? If not the manufacturer, what is a good alternate > source? Mouser? Digi-Key? > > Thanks > > Bob Cochran > Greenbelt, Maryland, USA > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft > Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. > http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ > _______________________________________________ > g4u-help mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/g4u-help > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft > Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. > http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ > _______________________________________________ > g4u-help mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/g4u-help ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ g4u-help mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/g4u-help
