WD20EARS Smoky Smoky! HELP :(

[TheDude]

Hi
Please suggest, advise, Guide... I am seeing stars here

I had a USB adapter Kit to use the SATA Drives... The one's that come with brick, and cables.

Anyways, as I wanted to copy some data of a 2TB WD Hard Drive... I THINK I connected the 4-Pin Power connector with the SATA power adapter in a reverse way... The STUPID, CHEAP cable did go in the wrong way Anyways, the horror is there was burning smell and smoke coming out of the area near the connector (Power and Data)....

I switched it off. Tried again (Why o why) and same. Then I took everything apart, realized that I had messed up the SATA power connector

Anyways now it wont power on and still it was giving out some smoke. I am not gonna use the adapter kit anymore (about time).

I have 2 Identical Drives with same serials/Models etc. I am reading about PCB Swap... does removing PCB void warranty? (They are in Warranty till 2013 Jan)... Any other suggestions? I heard about swapping some chip as well... me cant do that no soldering skills at all.

Anyways, The model details are:
Model WD20EARS-00S8B1
2061-771642-X01 01PD2
On PCB this is Printed:
2060-771642-001 REV P1

PLEASE HELP!!!! I have all my data on it (no p0rn jokes please, this is making me have a heart attack).

[Perineum]

swap the PCB, that is all you can do.

[TheDude]

Thanks for the reply. Would it void warranty on both the drives?

[supaflyx3]

There is nothing you can do other than sending it in for professional data recovery, PCB swaps don't work anymore.

[Perineum]

PCB swaps won't work anymore?

Sounds interesting, why is that?

[Ardric]

No two hard drives are exactly alike. Data density is so high now that the drive electronics have to fine-tune themselves to the media at the factory. This generates a set of calibration constants (big numbers) that the firmware uses to correctly set up the hardware. Some of the calibration is stored on the media itself where the drive can try to read it, but some critical setup data is stored in the PCB's nonvolatile eeprom memory as well.

When you swap PCB's between mechanisms you're not retaining the correct calibration constants for that drive. It may or may not work. Every year as densities go up it gets less likely a PCB swap will help without extra effort (ie reflashing the firmware and updating the calibration somehow). I don't know how you'd regenerate the calibration info or copy it across from the dead PCB. Perhaps the EEPROM can be desoldered from the old PCB and moved to the new one, or the data can be copied across with some sort of test jig, or perhaps the factory or a big-bucks recovery outfit has the correct software to recalibrate the drive after the swap. But it's no longer an easy DIY thing as far as I know.

[supaflyx3]

Why Control Board Swaps don't work anymore - YouTube

Although I don't know how correct that is, this pretty much sums it up.

[Perineum]

interesting, I didn't know this.

[Soultribunal]

Originally Posted by Perineum

interesting, I didn't know this.

I haven't had to do it in years so I never really read up on it anymore. Good info for sure,

-ST

[BlueByte]

Huh, thanks for the info.... it has been maybe 4-5 years since I have tried this... Just more excuses to backup backup backup.