tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21500237.post7735780701596994822..comments2023-04-29T04:08:32.247-04:00Comments on Praise, Curse, and Recurse: A Hard Dive HeadachePaul R. Pottshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04401509483200614806noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21500237.post-37477756006801920262007-06-25T12:39:00.000-04:002007-06-25T12:39:00.000-04:00Wow, congratulations. I think I speak for all you...Wow, congratulations. I think I speak for all your readers when I say I feel your pain and am relieved you got your data back! And that's a nice trick to be aware of.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21500237.post-91756265427021350992007-05-08T09:44:00.000-04:002007-05-08T09:44:00.000-04:00A final note: I managed to get all the data off bo...A final note: I managed to get all the data off both drives!Paul R. Pottshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04401509483200614806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21500237.post-17566962974148208432007-05-07T20:45:00.000-04:002007-05-07T20:45:00.000-04:00Good news -- after removing the fried voltage prot...Good news -- after removing the fried voltage protection diode, at least one drive spins up and mounts under Ubuntu. I've got a big file copy going on across Samba. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the other one will also work, but it looks promising!Paul R. Pottshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04401509483200614806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21500237.post-74018824956285560112007-05-07T11:38:00.000-04:002007-05-07T11:38:00.000-04:00Thanks for the suggestion, Jon. It could work, but...Thanks for the suggestion, Jon. It could work, but I think the little logic boards on the drives actually have flash on them to store the bad sector map.<BR/><BR/>I don't know yet whether this will work, but this morning a kind co-worker with more knowledge of hardware than I possess looked at the burnt parts under a microscope and did some testing with a multimeter. He tells me that they are (I think he said) voltage-protection diodes wired in parallel with the 5V circuitry. He suggested just removing them, on the grounds that the 5V logic circuitry may be intact. After removal, the two sides seem to present reasonable-looking numbers to the multimeter. So there is a chance that tonight I might be able to get one or both of the drives working long enough to copy off the data. File this under the category of "don't try this at home" since presumably if something went wrong I could start a fire, so I will have to watch them carefully.<BR/><BR/>If it works, or if it doesn't, the smoked drives will get disassembled and get their platters hung on the wall as a warning to help keep the other drives in line!Paul R. Pottshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04401509483200614806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21500237.post-87394083569405710612007-05-07T02:24:00.000-04:002007-05-07T02:24:00.000-04:00Well, you may be in luck.You can swap the drive el...Well, you may be in luck.<BR/>You can swap the drive electronics from a working drive to a dead drive. If you are lucky enough to have two 40gb drives which are the same model.<BR/>( Dont forget to backup the contents of the working drive :) Then it is a simple matter of unscrewing the boards and swapping them, and crossing your fingers.<BR/>I have done this, but not recently. I think they were more like 8gb drives.<BR/>The same goes for the 250gb drives.<BR/>However, when people talk about this they always moderate with the comment that 'modern' drives wont accept alien boards. Doesnt _seem_ to be the case.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03073721073517129665noreply@blogger.com