Author Topic: Hard Drive Transplant (Read 2467 times)

Lupin · « **on:** September 30, 2009, 05:13:57 AM »

I just blew up (literally) two 250 GB hard drives due to a combination of faulty power supplies and human error. Sparks and smoke came out of the circuit boards of the drives. One of the drives had some of its capacitors (or were they diodes) burn out while the other drive had it's microcontroller melt in a white hot glow.

I have no problems replacing the drive but the contents are virtually irreplaceable-mostly HD stuff from HDBits and FLAC from what.cd. With my ratio on both private trackers less than 1, redownloading all those torrents will get my account disabled.

Anyways, I've read somewhere that the data can still be recovered even in that state. You can replace the circuit board of the broken hard drive with another one, provided that they are of the same model and firmware. I do have a couple of 250 GB drives (I bought all the drives for a RAID 0+1 array before) of the same model and firmware but are plagued with bad sectors.

Has anyone tried doing this? All the drives are past their warranties. While I'm not scared dismantling/blowing up electronic/electrical devices, the thought of losing all those data scares the hell out of me.

Thanks.

bloody000 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 30, 2009, 05:54:59 AM »

Well, since you have a bunch of them you can try doing it on your bad drives first(not the freshly blew up ones).

fohfoh · « **Reply #2 on:** September 30, 2009, 06:12:20 AM »

Grab a external case and test it out first. If it doesn't work... other methods are going to be very very messy.

Seriously though, this is basically data recovery. It might work, it might not. Some of the info might be damaged... but if you figure it out, you surely have a future in doing data recovery for a BIG buck.

kureshii · « **Reply #3 on:** September 30, 2009, 06:35:56 AM »

What I've read before is, if the 2 drives are of the exact same model and make (or if you have other reason to believe this procedure is feasible), you can transfer the disk platters from the failed drive to the working drive. If all goes well, the new drive will read the old platters, and you can recover your data off the drive (assuming the platters are intact).

Mind you, while it's simple enough in concept to be described in one sentence, in reality it involves finding a dust-free environment, VERY careful disassembly of said drive and handling of platters (get one fingerprint or significant speck of dirt on those platters, it's game over unless you're lucky). In other words, not something you want to try if it's your first time.

You definitely want to do lots of reading up, and practise on an old/cheap drive or something. You will likely also need specialised tools; platters are not easy to remove without contamination (try disassembling an old drive).

Some details can be found here.

BotMan2 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 30, 2009, 06:39:01 AM »

OR

You can check if the main assembly (platters) only depends on a removable ribbon cable (or many ribbon cables) to connect to the main board of the HD. IF so, its theoretically possible without doing any soldering.

Talapus · « **Reply #5 on:** September 30, 2009, 07:53:19 AM »

Quote from: kureshii on September 30, 2009, 06:35:56 AM

Mind you, while it's simple enough in concept to be described in one sentence, in reality it involves finding a dust-free environment, VERY careful disassembly of said drive and handling of platters (get one fingerprint or significant speck of dirt on those platters, it's game over unless you're lucky). In other words, not something you want to try if it's your first time.

I've taken apart dozens of old hard drives, and I agree that it is very difficult not to damage the platters. You will need a full set of hex wrenches, a couple screwdrivers, and some kind of pry bar (for busting through seals and such). If you manage to make it work, quickly transfer everything to another drive (since you compromised the seal and filters). And be sure to rescue the magnets from the dead drives. The magnets from a 3.5" drive are alot of fun to play with, but the best ones come from much larger drives (I've salvaged several from a pair of 12" drives that are scary).

Lupin · « **Reply #6 on:** September 30, 2009, 08:14:42 AM »

Quote from: bloody000 on September 30, 2009, 05:54:59 AM

Well, since you have a bunch of them you can try doing it on your bad drives first(not the freshly blew up ones).

I'm going to use the circuit boards from the damaged (bad sectors) drives to make the blown-up drives function long enough to get the data from them.

Quote from: fohfoh on September 30, 2009, 06:12:20 AM

Grab a external case and test it out first. If it doesn't work... other methods are going to be very very messy.

The drives are dead (the platters won't spin since the circuit board is toasted) so the drives won't run even if I use enclosures.

Quote from: kureshii on September 30, 2009, 06:35:56 AM

What I've read before is, if the 2 drives are of the exact same model and make (or if you have other reason to believe this procedure is feasible), you can transfer the disk platters from the failed drive to the working drive. If all goes well, the new drive will read the old platters, and you can recover your data off the drive (assuming the platters are intact).

Mind you, while it's simple enough in concept to be described in one sentence, in reality it involves finding a dust-free environment, VERY careful disassembly of said drive and handling of platters (get one fingerprint or significant speck of dirt on those platters, it's game over unless you're lucky). In other words, not something you want to try if it's your first time.

You definitely want to do lots of reading up, and practise on an old/cheap drive or something. You will likely also need specialised tools; platters are not easy to remove without contamination (try disassembling an old drive).

Some details can be found here.

I won't be transferring the platters. It requires too much effort. For instance, you need a clean room to perform such a delicate operation. The platters of the drives are completely sealed by metal film(?) so transferring them will only cause me more problems (like how to seal the drive again)

Quote from: BotMan2 on September 30, 2009, 06:39:01 AM

You can check if the main assembly (platters) only depends on a removable ribbon cable (or many ribbon cables) to connect to the main board of the HD. IF so, its theoretically possible without doing any soldering.

There are no ribbon cables unfortunately. I think the board is connected to the platters via pins. How the hell did Maxtor build this?

I have to buy some screwdrivers with hex tips to see how things are.underneath the board. There seems to be a deep gap between the board and the rest of the drive.

If this fails, at least I have some new paperweight

Mag-X · « **Reply #7 on:** September 30, 2009, 12:41:12 PM »

Never tried this before, but if it makes an difference, when I was in school, we found an old drive in the junk lab that had been taken apart with the platters exposed and finger prints all over them. It actually worked for several days in that condition.

Tons of bad sectors though.

Talapus · « **Reply #8 on:** September 30, 2009, 01:16:02 PM »

Quote from: Mag-X on September 30, 2009, 12:41:12 PM

Never tried this before, but if it makes an difference, when I was in school, we found an old drive in the junk lab that had been taken apart with the platters exposed and finger prints all over them. It actually worked for several days in that condition. Tons of bad sectors though.

That is true of older drives. The newer the drive is though, the more likely that contaminants will result in a head crash.

bcr123 · « **Reply #9 on:** September 30, 2009, 03:18:25 PM »

Lots of times boards are interconnected with a sort of rubbery block that presses against a set of pads on the circuit board, once you take out the screws gently lift up on the circuit board to see how it's attached, if it's pins just gently rock is back and forth, if it's the rubbery block thing it'll just come off without any force at all. The other option is there may be snap connectors on the underside of the board that you'll need to disconnect. It'll be pretty obvious once you get a look under there though.

bloody000 · « **Reply #10 on:** October 01, 2009, 06:47:34 AM »

Quote from: Lupin on September 30, 2009, 08:14:42 AM

Quote from: bloody000 on September 30, 2009, 05:54:59 AM
Well, since you have a bunch of them you can try doing it on your bad drives first(not the freshly blew up ones).
I'm going to use the circuit boards from the damaged (bad sectors) drives to make the blown-up drives function long enough to get the data from them.

I mean testing this procedure on your old bad drives first to see if it works. Drives full of bad sectors are still operational(relatively speaking).

oh and, the pad bcr123 mentioned is the thermal pad between the controller and the drive case, the case acts as a cooler for the chip.

fohfoh · « **Reply #11 on:** October 13, 2009, 05:50:14 AM »

aww fuck. I think my dog broke the HDD in my external. (I built it myself)

I have to do some side tests... but afaik, nothing can be read off of it. Some vac photos and stuff on it that I kind of want back. (I basically "backed up" stuff to this HDD before I sent my laptop to get fixed. Laptop was wiped clean and then the "external broke")

The LED on my external case turns on normally, then flashes and nothing reads. Sometimes the HDD shows up, but no info comes off of it. Trying to read it crashes explorer.

Drew · « **Reply #12 on:** October 13, 2009, 06:19:02 PM »

Any DIY project that involves cracking open an HDD and dealing with the platters is really risky. If you really cared about the contents, I'd take it to a professional data recovery company and have them do it for you. Granted, there's still risk involved, and it can be pretty spendy depending on where you take it, but it's a hell of a lot better than trying to DIY.

fohfoh · « **Reply #13 on:** October 13, 2009, 06:23:40 PM »

Hmm... that's true. While the information isn't super important, it would be nice to have back. Maybe I'll wait for a little bit to see if a cheaper alternative with less risk shows up.

Lucerin Red · « **Reply #14 on:** October 14, 2009, 02:50:31 AM »

If you just fried the logic board, that's all you have to replace, I actually am going through the same thing right now. I bought a shitty power adaptor from china and it fried the logic board, smoke and everything. But replacing the logic board is cake. it just simply unscrews and lifts off. nothing to plug in even. However, the difficult part is finding a matching logic board. You have to find not only the same Make and Model, but the same firmware and P/N. Unfortunately for me there are plenty of 3.03 firmware, but what I need is 3.06. And the ass Pirates out there jack up the price now that the model is discontinued. They want $150+ for a 250 GB drive. ass fuckers.

isukianime · « **Reply #15 on:** October 15, 2009, 02:49:56 PM »

Quote from: kureshii on September 30, 2009, 06:35:56 AM

What I've read before is, if the 2 drives are of the exact same model and make (or if you have other reason to believe this procedure is feasible), you can transfer the disk platters from the failed drive to the working drive. If all goes well, the new drive will read the old platters, and you can recover your data off the drive (assuming the platters are intact).

Mind you, while it's simple enough in concept to be described in one sentence, in reality it involves finding a dust-free environment, VERY careful disassembly of said drive and handling of platters (get one fingerprint or significant speck of dirt on those platters, it's game over unless you're lucky). In other words, not something you want to try if it's your first time.

You definitely want to do lots of reading up, and practise on an old/cheap drive or something. You will likely also need specialised tools; platters are not easy to remove without contamination (try disassembling an old drive).

Some details can be found here.

I've done that before and destroyed 2 drives. Everything went smoothly until I connected the power cables at which point misaligned drive heads scraped the platters.

Lucerin Red · « **Reply #16 on:** October 31, 2009, 01:14:51 AM »

Quote from: Lucerin Red on October 14, 2009, 02:50:31 AM

If you just fried the logic board, that's all you have to replace, I actually am going through the same thing right now. I bought a shitty power adaptor from china and it fried the logic board, smoke and everything. But replacing the logic board is cake. it just simply unscrews and lifts off. nothing to plug in even. However, the difficult part is finding a matching logic board. You have to find not only the same Make and Model, but the same firmware and P/N. Unfortunately for me there are plenty of 3.03 firmware, but what I need is 3.06. And the ass Pirates out there jack up the price now that the model is discontinued. They want $150+ for a 250 GB drive. ass fuckers.

Just posting to say I can confirm what I stated is accurate, as I finally got a replacement drive for $40, swapped the cards, and it works perfectly.

Bonus, the drive I got to replace it is still in warranty, so hello 2-for-1.

Slykester · « **Reply #17 on:** October 31, 2009, 04:12:05 PM »

What you're describing is possible, I've done it personally as well as seen it done by colleagues. You have nothing to lose at this point, and the only thing you have to worry about is if the motor is damaged. You can probably see what you need to do if that's the case.

Lupin · « **Reply #18 on:** October 31, 2009, 05:55:11 PM »

Quote from: Lucerin Red on October 31, 2009, 01:14:51 AM

Bonus, the drive I got to replace it is still in warranty, so hello 2-for-1.

Won't they notice that you replaced the board (voiding the warranty)?

Slykester · « **Reply #19 on:** October 31, 2009, 06:45:07 PM »

Only if you're careless, or if they were anticipating that this could occur (and consequently made it impossible to switch the board). Usually the board is connected such that it *will* be replaceable, for things like refurbs. I guess you gotta ask yourself, how important is that data?

Just be extremely careful, and try to salvage any warranty labels.

It's not that I necessarily think 2-for-1 is fair, but I agree it can be really hard to replace some stuff, especially if you don't have the originals to reproduce it.