WD Hard drive failure, looking to swap PCB boards, need info please!

Hi there,
I have recently suffered a master hard drive failure. I cant pay $700+ for data recovery and I know that the data still exists on the platters. I have discovered that if I don't get the right criteria for a donor PCB board then the drive will not work. My specs, and a few questions:

WD5000AAKS-07TMA0

2060-701477-002 REV A

(on barcode): 2061 - 701477-900 AD

- Just how much in common do the donor board and patient drive need in order to work properly?

-Will a closely matching model number work ok? What about the number on the barcode? Do these need to be an exact match also?

- Will I eventually obtain the EXACT donor board (from same model number and barcode sticker) from somewhere? What are mt best bets of finding one?

- What do the hyphenated codes appended to the model number signify (07TMA0)?

- why can I find just about every variation of this model number (00TMA0, 00YGA0, etc) on eBay but not the one I want?

- I have sourced a PCB board on eBay with the exact same codes etched on the PBC and sticker (2060-701477-002 REV A, 2061 - 701477-900 AD, respectively) but apparently do not come from the exact model number - from a 00TMA0, and 00YGA0, but not my match of 07TMA0...will this make any difference?

- has anyone with the same drive in a similar situation been able to resurrect it by swapping PCB boards?

- how about a platter swap? I have 2 spare WD Caviar se-16s in perfect working order, but am too timid to go ahead with this sort of thing.

- what's the likelihood of me getting this drive working again if the problem is indeed the circuit board?

Thanks to anyone who responds to this message.

AMT in Canada

On 9/30/2013 6:26 PM, wrote:
Hi there,
I have recently suffered a master hard drive failure. I cant pay $700+ for data recovery and I know that the data still exists on the platters. I have discovered that if I don't get the right criteria for a donor PCB board then the drive will not work. My specs, and a few questions:

WD5000AAKS-07TMA0

2060-701477-002 REV A

(on barcode): 2061 - 701477-900 AD

- Just how much in common do the donor board and patient drive need in order to work properly?

-Will a closely matching model number work ok? What about the number on the barcode? Do these need to be an exact match also?

- Will I eventually obtain the EXACT donor board (from same model number and barcode sticker) from somewhere? What are mt best bets of finding one?

- What do the hyphenated codes appended to the model number signify (07TMA0)?

- why can I find just about every variation of this model number (00TMA0, 00YGA0, etc) on eBay but not the one I want?

- I have sourced a PCB board on eBay with the exact same codes etched on the PBC and sticker (2060-701477-002 REV A, 2061 - 701477-900 AD, respectively) but apparently do not come from the exact model number - from a 00TMA0, and 00YGA0, but not my match of 07TMA0...will this make any difference?

- has anyone with the same drive in a similar situation been able to resurrect it by swapping PCB boards?

- how about a platter swap? I have 2 spare WD Caviar se-16s in perfect working order, but am too timid to go ahead with this sort of thing.

- what's the likelihood of me getting this drive working again if the problem is indeed the circuit board?

Thanks to anyone who responds to this message.

AMT in Canada


Needless to add but as a reminder to all, there would not have
been any worries or concerns had routine backups been made for
all of the data.

GR

wrote

I have recently suffered a master hard drive failure. I cant pay $700+
for data recovery and I know that the data still exists on the platters.

You don't say how valuable the data is.

I have discovered that if I don't get the right criteria
for a donor PCB board then the drive will not work.

And you can lose any possibility of paying for recovery.

My specs, and a few questions:

WD5000AAKS-07TMA0
2060-701477-002 REV A
(on barcode): 2061 - 701477-900 AD

- Just how much in common do the donor board
and patient drive need in order to work properly?

That varys with the drive design, particularly where the
bad block remapping data is stored and whether there
are enough of those to matter with the drive.

-Will a closely matching model number work ok?

That varys with the model, with some it will, with others it won't.

What about the number on the barcode?
Do these need to be an exact match also?

That varys with the model, with some it will, with others it doesn't.

- Will I eventually obtain the EXACT donor board (from same
model number and barcode sticker) from somewhere?

Only trying that can say.

What are mt best bets of finding one?

- What do the hyphenated codes appended
to the model number signify (07TMA0)?

WD hasn't said.

- why can I find just about every variation of this model number
(00TMA0, 00YGA0, etc) on eBay but not the one I want?

Presumably because yours wasn't made in the same volume.

- I have sourced a PCB board on eBay with the
exact same codes etched on the PBC and sticker
(2060-701477-002 REV A, 2061 - 701477-900 AD,
respectively) but apparently do not come from the
exact model number - from a 00TMA0, and 00YGA0,
but not my match of 07TMA0...will this make any difference?

Only if there is some description of the difference can that be concluded.

- has anyone with the same drive in a similar situation
been able to resurrect it by swapping PCB boards?

Yes.

- how about a platter swap?

Not feasible.

I have 2 spare WD Caviar se-16s in perfect working order,
but am too timid to go ahead with this sort of thing.

And that's wise if the data is irreplaceable.

- what's the likelihood of me getting this drive working
again if the problem is indeed the circuit board?

Depends on how its failed, how the sector remapping
data is stored, and what remapping has happened.

Thanks to anyone who responds to this message.

Even if they tell you to shove your head up a dead bear's bum ?

Funky.

wrote:
Hi there,
I have recently suffered a master hard drive failure. I cant pay $700+ for
data recovery and I know that the data still exists on the platters. I
have discovered that if I don't get the right criteria for a donor PCB
board then the drive will not work.

A board replacement will also not help if it is any other problem.
But any messing with it you do will make things worse.

Arno

On Monday, September 30, 2013 6:26:57 PM UTC-7, wrote:
Hi there,

I have recently suffered a master hard drive failure. I cant pay $700+ for data recovery and I know that the data still exists on the platters. I have discovered that if I don't get the right criteria for a donor PCB board then the drive will not work. My specs, and a few questions:



WD5000AAKS-07TMA0



2060-701477-002 REV A



(on barcode): 2061 - 701477-900 AD



- Just how much in common do the donor board and patient drive need in order to work properly?



-Will a closely matching model number work ok? What about the number on the barcode? Do these need to be an exact match also?



- Will I eventually obtain the EXACT donor board (from same model number and barcode sticker) from somewhere? What are mt best bets of finding one?



- What do the hyphenated codes appended to the model number signify (07TMA0)?



- why can I find just about every variation of this model number (00TMA0, 00YGA0, etc) on eBay but not the one I want?



- I have sourced a PCB board on eBay with the exact same codes etched on the PBC and sticker (2060-701477-002 REV A, 2061 - 701477-900 AD, respectively) but apparently do not come from the exact model number - from a 00TMA0, and 00YGA0, but not my match of 07TMA0...will this make any difference?



- has anyone with the same drive in a similar situation been able to resurrect it by swapping PCB boards?



- how about a platter swap? I have 2 spare WD Caviar se-16s in perfect working order, but am too timid to go ahead with this sort of thing.



- what's the likelihood of me getting this drive working again if the problem is indeed the circuit board?



Thanks to anyone who responds to this message.



AMT in Canada





Thanks for all the advice people!

I once had this problem and had Hitachi tell me that the only way of doing this was by getting another drive with (what they called) the same firmware. I never did manage to find a drive with the same firmware and the drive was a common one!

As these drives are made by the million and are mostly pretty much identical, I never did figure out what on earth firmware (which cannot be upgraded) was.

No, you cant change/upgrade firmware on a drive! That would be far too easy.

AMT in Canada

Thanks for all the advice people!

On Mon, 14 Oct 2013 08:12:08 -0700 (PDT), myfathersson
wrote:

I once had this problem and had Hitachi tell me that the only way of doing this was by getting another drive with (what they called) the same firmware. I never did manage to find a drive with the same firmware and the drive was a common one!

As these drives are made by the million and are mostly pretty much identical, I never did figure out what on earth firmware (which cannot be upgraded) was.

No, you cant change/upgrade firmware on a drive! That would be far too easy.

Yes, you can. I upgraded the firmware on a set of 16 Samsung 2TB drives a
year or two ago.

--

Char Jackson

Sounds VERY Interesting: Is there a database anywhere of which manufacturers enable/allow firmware upgrading and/or how you do this?

(Must confess never having come across a Samsung hard drive in any laptop i have taken apart)

On Tue, 15 Oct 2013 06:51:48 -0700 (PDT), myfathersson
wrote:

Sounds VERY Interesting: Is there a database anywhere of which manufacturers enable/allow firmware upgrading and/or how you do this?

(Must confess never having come across a Samsung hard drive in any laptop i have taken apart)

Some info he
http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Samsung-Internal-Drives/HD204UI-Firmware-patch/m-p/142695

Or just search for "your hard drive firmware upgrade", for example.

--

Char Jackson