Replacing HardDrive PC Board?

[Xinfinitum]

Recently my computer's power supply fried.

It seems dust collected inside the power supply, compacted around some components and they cooked.

The results seem to have damaged the harddrive, an IBM DeskStar 61.4gig Model# IC35L060AVVA07-0

Now the computer will not recognize the drive and if I put the drive in any other computer it will not recognize it either.

I am not sure if any other damage to the computer has occured
as a result of the power supply destruction.

I was thinking that the physical drive is probably ok and the damage may be limited to the PC board If I were to replace the pc board using another drive of the same model number, lets say I found on ebay, it may fix it.

But my question is can I use a PC board from another DeskStar Drive, like a 40gig or 20 gig that has a different model number or does it have to be an exact match to the one I have.

Any advice or experience anyone has would be appreciated.

Thanks
Xinfinitum

[EvilRick]

I sent a guy two 15GB Deathstars that I had and he was unable to get them to work, his was a 15GB as well. My drives would spin up fine, the physical disks were messed up. I doubt if you'll have better luck. And I doubt if using the PCB from a different sized drive would work either.

[Xinfinitum]

Thanks for the input.

DeathStars. Hahaha

I guess I am lucky, in the 26 years I have been using computers this is the first machine to have a failure like this. Its the first harddrive I have lost.

There is some data on there I would have really liked to have but I guess I will have to learn to live without it. :-)

Thanks

[Tomteriffic]

I haven't done this on a DeathStar, but on a WD and a Seagate, I was able to find another drive with the EXACT same firmware revision and get my data off of the old one. The Seagate board just simply blew up, split itself in half internally (inside the thength of the circuitboard). Darndest thing I ever saw.

[Xinfinitum]

Quote:

Originally posted by Tomteriffic
I was able to find another drive with the EXACT same firmware revision and get my data off of the old one.

Hi Tomteriffic,

Is there a way to identify the firmware revision on the label
of the harddrive?

Up until now I have only been specifying the Model# in my specs when looking for a drive.

Thanks,
Xinfinitum

[Xinfinitum]

I am also seeing people identifying the drives as 75GXP or 120 GXP, etc.

I see nothing on the harddrive label to identify this.

Can someone inform me as to how to identify this classification of my drive?

This is what my drive label reads:

Model: IC35L060AVVA07-0 ATA/IDE

Capacity: 61.4GB RPM: 7200RPM
P/N: 07N8083 MLC: H32657
LBA: 120.103.200 SECTORS CHS: 16383/16/63

Is the LBA 120 the indicator people are refering to as 120GXP?



Thanks,
Xinfinitum

[Tomteriffic]

I believe I found the firmware revision using either SiSoft Sandra, or it appeared on the boot screen at the end of the drive model number. In the case of the Seagate, it was one of a batch of a dozen or so that a local dealer had gotten, so we just tried a shot in the dark. I think you may be out of luck unless there is a small sticker someplace on the circuit bard. Typically the frmware revision number is burned into the chip at the time of manufacture, though. And since your drive is in the condition it's in, well

I was hoping to find a link to the IBM Quick Spec page that I had, in which you can cross-reference the model you have (as on the label) with what it's actually marketed as. Unfortunately one place I had it, the drive got wiped, and the other place I had it, I got fired.... Maybe if you search the support section of IBM's website you can find it. But, since they sold their HDD business to Hitachi, it may be a trick.

That IC35L looks familiar as being one of the Deathstars, though. They did eventually release a firmware patch for it, after almost getting sued out of business (which prompted them to sell the hard drive business completely), here's a link to that page. Deathstar Firmware Patch

Not a lot of help, I know, but it's what I got.

P.S. Stick the drive in a plastic bag, wrapped up tight and stick it in the freezer overnight. You might get it to boot up long enough to get some data off of it, if the platters themselves haven't been scored by the heads.

EDIT FOUND IT! Here's the IBM quick specs page.... http://www.storage.ibm.com/hdd/support/quickspex603.pdf

[Xinfinitum]

I will try the freezer technique. Maybe if I am lucky it will work.

In the mean time thanks for the advice and the websites.

I discovered that the drive is covered under the warranty but I have data on there I need to get and that is private.

I contacted Hitachi and am attempting to get them to help me with the drive. I asked them for a pc board with the correct firmware revision, etc that I could swap out the bad board with.

It may be a long shot in asking but it is worth a try. Who knows, they may actually help me out.

Thanks Again

[Xinfinitum]

I received a reply from Hitachi:

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Unfortunately, the logic board for the drive is not available for sale
through Hitachi GST. The only way to replace the board would be to replace the entire drive. Please let us know what type of problem you are having and we may be able to assist.

Thank you for contacting Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
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Xinfinitum