# Seagate PCB Replacement



## Kraegos (May 27, 2008)

I have a Seagate 120gb external hard drive that quit working a couple months ago. I can power it on and the disk still spins, but the arms do not move. I had the IT guy at work take a look at it and he couldn't do anything with it. Will replacing the pcb help? Where can I find one?

I wouldn't even bother with this drive, but this was my backup drive. Every game, pic (fam pics of my kids from the time they were born!), video, mp3, doc, etc I own is on that drive. I do still have the install cds for my old games, but have lost my cd keys.


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## Cybrnook2002 (May 27, 2008)

Kraegos said:


> I have a Seagate 120gb external hard drive that quit working a couple months ago. I can power it on and the disk still spins, but the arms do not move. I had the IT guy at work take a look at it and he couldn't do anything with it. Will replacing the pcb help? Where can I find one?
> 
> I wouldn't even bother with this drive, but this was my backup drive. Every game, pic (fam pics of my kids from the time they were born!), video, mp3, doc, etc I own is on that drive. I do still have the install cds for my old games, but have lost my cd keys.



Did you try the old HD in a ziplock bag in the freezer for a few hours trick?

Or taking the HD out of the casing and booting it up in the actual pc?


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## suraswami (May 27, 2008)

"Did you try the old HD in a ziplock bag in the freezer for a few hours trick?"

ho what trick is that?  I have one too like that.


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## sneekypeet (May 27, 2008)

usually putting a HDD in the freezer will allow you to retreve info from a dying yet still functioning HDD. On the way out they tend to run uber hot and shut down...hence the freezer comes into play to keep the HDD running long enough to extract the info.

As for a HDD that the arms arent moving...thats a tough call....maybe pulling it out of the external case will do some good...could be a bad connection in the case!


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## Cybrnook2002 (May 27, 2008)

suraswami said:


> "Did you try the old HD in a ziplock bag in the freezer for a few hours trick?"
> 
> ho what trick is that?  I have one too like that.



HO??? I kill you    You put your HD in a ziplock bag to protect it from moisture. Then just put it in the freezer for 2 hours or so. That way it gets reaaallly cold and contracts, putting any moving parts back in line if they have shifted causing something to not work. When you do this its really important to start copying right away after its booted, because when the drive heats back up, its a possibility that it comes out of line again. Then you have to thrust and repeat the process.


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## PVTCaboose1337 (May 27, 2008)

I have run a HD without the case.  It ran for 3 minutes.  The drive then made blue smoke, and I kinda just turned off the computer.  The ziplock bag thing is tricky.  If you are a total badass you can buy the exact same drive and take out the platters, transfer them, and put them in another drive...  but the silver can easily be scratched.


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## erocker (May 27, 2008)

If the data on the HDD is worth it to you, you may want have a professional retrieve the data for you.


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## Kraegos (May 27, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> As for a HDD that the arms arent moving...thats a tough call....maybe pulling it out of the external case will do some good...could be a bad connection in the case!



Yeah I did that about a month ago. Plugged it into 2 diff computers. No luck.
Prob started when the HDD was powering on and off repeatedly while I was playing a game off of it. Power cord wasnt making a good connection. (Crappy s-video-looking connection) I took the case apart, removed the adapter board, and plugged it in direct to the pc via the ide/molex connections. It recognized a drive was connected, but since the arms don't move you can't open it to view the files.

I was told by the IT guy not to open the HDD up unless I was in a clean-room. I don't know if I'd want to try swapping out the platters. That may be my only hope if the pcb thing doesn't pan out.


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## sneekypeet (May 27, 2008)

I remember there was a post here where a guy made a clean room with a rubermaid tote...he cut it mounted some gloves and put in a plexi top to see through.....He was only changing from metal tops to Plexi tops.

But for the cost, as erocker says...maybe a professional service is needed here.


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## suraswami (May 27, 2008)

Cybrnook2002 said:


> HO??? I kill you    You put your HD in a ziplock bag to protect it from moisture. Then just put it in the freezer for 2 hours or so. That way it gets reaaallly cold and contracts, putting any moving parts back in line if they have shifted causing something to not work. When you do this its really important to start copying right away after its booted, because when the drive heats back up, its a possibility that it comes out of line again. Then you have to thrust and repeat the process.



I did a stupid thing.  The PSU back power socket (where you plug in your power cord) broke when I pulled out the PC to clean the room and pc.  So I tried to figure which wire goes to which pin, i finally got the connections from another PSU and tried connecting the pins accordingly.  Stupid thing  is I kept connected the HDD to one of the molex.  When I powered the pc, boom the hd went in smoke.  Luckily all the parts were in tact.  Then the pc wouldn't boot.  So I went and bought another drive to load OS etc.  then 2 days later I connected the fried drive and it worked for like 30 minutes.  I quickly transferred all the data to the new drive.  Just after it finished copying the drive died for sure.  When I connect it the heads spin and I can hear the seak noise, the drive will be recognized in the bios but not in windows anymore.  PCB damaged?


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## mullered07 (May 27, 2008)

suraswami said:


> I did a stupid thing.  The PSU back power socket (where you plug in your power cord) broke when I pulled out the PC to clean the room and pc.  So I tried to figure which wire goes to which pin, i finally got the connections from another PSU and tried connecting the pins accordingly.  Stupid thing  is I kept connected the HDD to one of the molex.  When I powered the pc, boom the hd went in smoke.  Luckily all the parts were in tact.  Then the pc wouldn't boot.  So I went and bought another drive to load OS etc.  then 2 days later I connected the fried drive and it worked for like 30 minutes.  I quickly transferred all the data to the new drive.  Just after it finished copying the drive died for sure.  When I connect it the heads spin and I can hear the seak noise, the drive will be recognized in the bios but not in windows anymore.  PCB damaged?



you've transferred all the data u wanted off it, just call it a day and send it to the big junkyard in the sky


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## lemonadesoda (May 28, 2008)

If you installed the drive as SECONDARD/SLAVE... and it recognised the drive OK, made the drive visible in windows... but you just couldnt "open" the drive in explorer... then I doubt it's the PCB, but it's a failure of the motor/alignment of the arms.

Does it make a clicking sound. Or just DEAD?

If you want to try swapping the PCB... you must get an identical drive with the exact same model/bios revision. I did this once on a 2.5" drive that got knocked over by my 2 year old.  The PCB swap cost a fortune, and resulted in ZILCH.  Like you, I had the HDD for a long time... it was my USB backupdrive... but actually wasnt so much a backup as a SINGLE archive drive. Data lost.

1./ Try the freeze technique.
2./ Try the gentle knock of the HDD on a desk. If no change, try a harder knock.
3./ Give up, learn a lesson, and buy yourself a NON-MOVEABLE, physically locked down, archive/backup NAS.


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## suraswami (May 28, 2008)

lemonadesoda said:


> 1./ Try the freeze technique.
> 2./ Try the gentle knock of the HDD on a desk. If no change, try a harder knock.
> 3./ Give up, learn a lesson, and buy yourself a NON-MOVEABLE, physically locked down, archive/backup NAS.




Funny 

I did 2.  Gentle knock, harder knock and then beat it up.


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## suraswami (May 28, 2008)

mullered07 said:


> you've transferred all the data u wanted off it, just call it a day and send it to the big junkyard in the sky



I just don't want to throw away because it also has some sensitive info.  So I stored it.  May be give it to my 2 yr old son.  He will beat the shit out of it and may be it will wake up from 'koma'.


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## lemonadesoda (May 28, 2008)

Believe it or not, the "knock" is a highly technical method to unstick a stuck head/arm. The danger is that the knock makes the discs (platters) rotate the wrong way round a fraction, making the head folder under inself rendering it useless and even more stuck.


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