# Replacing hard drive pcb



## Shane (Apr 10, 2009)

Hey guys,

If i was to get the exact same new/used pcb board for my dead Western digital hard drive would it be easy to replace?

i dunno if it would cost more in the long run,ive emailed Western digital asking if they would even consider shipping me out a pcb...im yet to get a responce.

But i just wanted to know,is it possible?

the drives warrenty is gone,they said i can send it to them for repair for a fee obviusly,but i dont want them having access to my personal data on it.

thanks

If its not possible,then il just have to destroy the drive and get that 1tb in my siggy,but thought it was worth a shot.


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## Bodaggit23 (Apr 10, 2009)

Nevakonaza said:


> Hey guys,
> If i was to get the exact same new/used pcb board for my dead Western digital hard drive would it be easy to replace?


You're probably better off just buying another drive new.
Not sure how the replacement would go. Shouldn't be 
hooked to anything mechanical, so I would think it would
be do-able.


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## /\E (Apr 10, 2009)

The only time I have heard of replacing the PCB on an HDD is when there's a sensitive data recovery situation. Like the power supply tripped out and fried the PCB but did not harm the drive internals or the machine had a changing temperature environment.


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## Shane (Apr 10, 2009)

Im just thinking that,If i can get this pcb cheap enough it might well be worth a shot but i doubt with shipping costs it would be... but until they respond i dont know.

I dunno i just got the feeling that its the pcb thats failed,i cant see it been anything else.

the drive just failed smart test and never showed up in windows or the bios again so obviusly its not been detected anymore which points me to the drives mainboard.


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## Bodaggit23 (Apr 10, 2009)

To be honest, it's more likely a mechanical failure rather than the board.


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## Shane (Apr 10, 2009)

Bodaggit23 said:


> To be honest, it's more likely a mechanical failure rather than the board.



But surely if it was a mechanical failure the drive would still show up in my computer and in the Bios? but just not work?

i didnt hear clicking or anything before it failed....it just stopped working within a few mins of smart failiure.


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## Vipernitrox (Apr 10, 2009)

could you read the smart data with something? and post it back here. and honestly i'd have to agree with bodaggit. pcb's usually don't just break down. a mechanical failure is more likely.


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## Shane (Apr 10, 2009)

Vipernitrox said:


> could you read the smart data with something? and post it back here. and honestly i'd have to agree with bodaggit. pcb's usually don't just break down. a mechanical failure is more likely.



Is this what you mean?

Screenshots before the fail

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b125/shaneathome/fail.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b125/shaneathome/windiag.jpg

Btw i just went out and purchased a new Toshiba 500Gb external drive anyway 

Responce from Western digital support...



> Dear Shane,
> 
> Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support.
> 
> Western Digital does not sell or replace circuit boards for our hard drives nor are we aware of any other companies that sell them. *Replacing the circuit board on a hard drive is not a recommended method for recovering data or drive functions as this will void the warranty on the hard drive*. For every hard drive model that Western Digital manufacturers, there are many firmware changes that would make it very difficult to find a circuit board with the same firmware of the defective drive. If you attempt to install a circuit board with a different firmware than the original, this may damage the hard drive further. If you need to recover the data on your drive, please contact one of our recommended preferred data recovery partners.



That part i put in bold made me laugh.....i mentioned 3 times to her in my email that the warrenty has passed,she should already know that as i gave them the hard drives serial numbers.


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## Vipernitrox (Apr 10, 2009)

all recent hard drives have smart monitoring which monitors your hard drive for things like read errors and alot of other stuff (differs per drive). I know everest and an app like hdtune can read it. and there probably are some bootable cd's that can do it.

but this is only usable if it's still recognized in the bios....

nvm just searched the thread for the word bios and you mentioned that it isn't showing up anywhere....

anyways i usually check my smart data every couple of weeks or so to see if nothing is wrong with my hard disks. that way you can at least get your data of the disk that is starting to break down.


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## leon2046 (Aug 31, 2010)

*Swap hard drive pcb.*

Of course it is possible.

Sometimes people prefer to do it themself to send them to a recovery company.

But if you data is important, you'd better to do a recovery service.

For a Western digital hard drive replacement you need to find the matching info such as:

Board Number: 2060-001130-012
Main Controller IC: 88i5540-LFH
Motor Combo IC: L6278 1.2E

Sometimes we also need to exchange the BIOS. you can refer to this article:

http://www.hddzone.com/conditions.html (how to find a matching pcb)


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