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I have a HDD that mysteriously stopped working the other day. The contents aren't important enough to justify the cost of professional recovery, but I've been looking at a few posts about DIY recovery to see if there is anything I could do.

It's ext4 on a Linux system, so I installed ddrescue and tried running that to make a recover data to another disk I have. It ran for over a day and didn't recover anything.

See this screenshot:

(see this screenshot)

The disk does show up correctly in lsblk, but the partitions don't. The disk makes a few clicks and chirps during POST, but no noise when the computer is running.

Any other options I should try before just giving up?

I think I've found an answer to this (or at least some additional information in the right direction). Some things I found on the web seem to say that the "swipe twice across the platter and then spin down" issue can be addressed by swapping the PCB.

I've found places that sell used PCBs as replacements, but they say you need to transfer the BIOS chip. Unfortunately, my soldering skills are not that good. Does anyone know a way around this? For example, if I don't swap the BIOS chip, I know the drive won't be plug-and-play, but would it be readable by something like ddrescue?

I did find one company that sell a PCB that is the exact match for mine, all the way down to the Firmware number and PCB Sticker code. Would this have any better chance of working than just a simple PCB Number match?

And for what it's worth, sorry for all the questions. I've realized that this has become less about recovering the data or avoiding cost and more about learning how all this works and the satisfaction of trying to fix this myself

DavidPostill
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CWeinhofer
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    If ddrescue couldn't get the data, no other utility can do better. It seems like the disk is truly dead. – harrymc Aug 08 '23 at 16:02
  • You made a wise choice doing ddrescue first but even it won't recover data.. it will simply give you a copy (the best it can) onto a drive you might be able to rescue. I have also had it take WEEKS. If I can make a suggestion, WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS and you are at the end of your rope, open the drive in the least dusty room you have in your house and see if you can doctor it back to life long enough to get your data back. I have done this successfully more than once. ONLY AS A LAST RESORT though. – Señor CMasMas Aug 08 '23 at 16:08
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    Have you tried testdisk – JW0914 Aug 08 '23 at 16:45
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    @JW0914 , he wouldn't want to use that until he has duplicated whatever could be scraped from the initial drive. And YES, very good program for recovery. ddrescue is a raw disk copy with slightly more error handling than dd. If dd can't copy the bytes, then testdisk doesn't have a hope. – Señor CMasMas Aug 08 '23 at 16:50
  • @SeñorCMasMas I don't mind letting it sit, but I figured rescued: 0 B after more than 24 hrs was a pretty good indicator that ddrescue wasn't going to find any usable data.

    I'm intrigued by your suggestion of dismantling the drive. I've taken drives apart before, just for curiosity, so I'd be open to that. I just don't know how far to dismantle it or what to do with it once I got it apart.

     – CWeinhofer Aug 08 '23 at 20:35
  • Sometimes it is enough just to bump the needle back or even set it back onto the platter stack. Again I REPEAT, your drive is done after doing this.. but you might get data back "one last time". A forensic or data recovery person would have a "clean room". My "clean room" has been my bathroom more than once. :P Good luck! :) – Señor CMasMas Aug 08 '23 at 20:58
  • So I opened the drive cover and was hoping to find a stuck head, but no such luck. Without too many other options (and accepting the risk), I decided to turn the computer on while the drive was open.

    During POST, the drive seems to spin up and the head goes across the platter twice before returning to the rest position and the drive spinning down. After that, nothing. (you can see it here: https://youtube.com/shorts/zQ9qFdWyGhI) This is the same behavior I've been hearing since the drive started acting up.

    Any idea what this might mean and if there's anything a DIYer can do about it?

     – CWeinhofer Aug 14 '23 at 18:25
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    If the head is stuck you won't hear it click. Drive spins up, executes code in Rom and tries to read the firmware in the service area. It can't, so then probably head and / or surface damage. very unlikely this has got anything to do with the PCB. As rule of thumb, if drive spins, it's not the the PCB. For the rest I agree with @harrymc. – Joep van Steen Aug 18 '23 at 23:01
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    BTW, even in a cleanroom a tech won't spin up the drive. – Joep van Steen Aug 18 '23 at 23:05

1 Answers1

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  • For starters, if the drive spins then most likely the issue is not the PCB.
  • Second, if the drive ID's and spins then it's not a heads-stuck issue.
  • If the drive does not spin it's worth checking the TVS diodes, this is very DIY-able.

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TVS issue

  • If TVS is the issue with multimeter in continuity mode, place black probe at the side where lines ||| are, red other side you get a beep. So beep is bad.

  • In diode mode black probe at ||| and red other side, if reading is close to zero the TVS diode is bad.

  • DIODE bad: Remove diode. Some just snap it off, else hot air station, high temp, apply flux and it will come right off. Make sure not to damage other parts whatever the method. Hook up drive. If it spins save data. Note that by removing the diode you removed protection as well so it's not meant to be a permanent solution!

If you prefer watching someone diagnose, this is a nice video: https://youtu.be/2YZ0LBhFCZY

Swapping PCB

In many cases the so called hard drive 'adaptives' are stored inside an 8-legged ROM chip on the PCB or in some cases it's in same package as the controller (i which case you'd need to transplant that to the donor PCB).

In general it means a PCB swap will not work, although there are exceptions, without 'transplanting' the ROM chip. Yes the drive will spin up, make a few clicks and finds itself unable to access the SA (service area). The adaptives are specific to one drive as no two drives are exactly the same. Some of the online donor PCB sellers provide the service to do the ROM transplant for you if you send them the damaged PCB, often around $10 for the service. AFAIK the following do:

Joep van Steen
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