Barracuda XT, Barracuda, Barracuda Green, DiamondMax and other desktop SATA and IDE drives

[fzabkar]

The two photos show damage to the 12V TVS diode. This diode appears to have sacrificed itself to protect your data. The reason that it is dead is because the drive was subjected to an overvoltage on the +12V supply rail. The usual culprit is a bad PC power supply, or wrong AC adapter (eg a 20VDC laptop adapter).

The fix is to remove the diode by snipping its pins with flush cutters. Just be absolutely sure that your PSU is OK, as you will no longer have overvoltage protection on the affected supply rail.

I agree that Seagate should provide a service to repair your board. However, you should not expect this kind of damage to be covered under warranty, even though it probably would be.

[BlogPiG · Accepted solution]

fzabkar, you my friend are a genius!!!

My PCB looked a little like the photos, although nowhere near as burnt, just some discoloration on the diode.

The heat was definitely generated in that area when plugged in.

I snipped out the diode (could not desolder, my iron was not hot enough) and hey presto, it worked!!!

I cannot thank you enough I was having a nightmare trying to find the same disk with firmware match.

If you have a favorite charity please let me know and I will be sure to make a donation.

Thanks again.

Gary

[fzabkar]

Congratulations.

As for a favourite charity, I tend to avoid charities such as St Vincent de Paul or Salvation Army because I always wonder whether their beneficiaries are the same individuals that break into my house or vandalise my car. Instead I donate regularly to medical organisations. I reckon that someone who's blind or confined to a wheelchair is unlikely to do me, or my property, any harm. Furthermore, each dollar will ultimately benefit more than just the one individual.

That said, the individuals who are probably most deserving of our support are our combat soldiers, especially those who suffer physical or psychological damage. ISTM that we can never do enough for them. Here in Australia we get Jim Lehrer's News Hour. At the end of the program I'm always moved by the names and faces that will never answer another roll call.

Anyway, here endeth my thought for today. :-)

[nibiru77]

Thanks in advance from me too.

I had a Maxtor Basics USB external case, that got "fried" some days ago.

Since I cared about the data more than about the warranty, I extracted the SATA drive inside and found it to be a Barracuda 7200.11 640Gb.

(Not so) surprisingly, the drive DID work if put in a desktop PC.

I then bought a SATA-USB adapter from eBay that fried one TVS (whose name I discovered thanks to this forum), the drive board is almost identical to this one:

http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

and the chip burnt is the smallest one on the left.

I noticed that these **bleep**ty adapters do not have any +5V GND line... I tried another disk (WD) and it didn't start (I removed it quickly before it burnt ), while after joining the two GND lines on the power adapter cable (molex  -> SATA power), it worked.

Apart from blaming who sells these crud adapters without any warning, I was wondering how to substitute the diode, even if burnt, I can read on it:

ST e3 VU

AE   (or AC theres' a crack right in the middle)

GP815

Is there any way to reliably replace it?

Thanks again!

[fzabkar]

"AE" identifies the part as a 5V TVS diode. It is made by ST Microelectronics. "815" is a YWW date code, ie week 15 of 2008, and "e3" is a lead free marking.

You should be able to substitute an SMAJ5.0A available from Farnell, Mouser, Digikey.

Good luck.

[edununez]

Please help me, If you see my pictures, two diodes are burnt, and if you lift them from one side, they are unwelded. http://goo.gl/photos/7HAP

Do you think the two big diodes near the burnt ones could be damaged? Wich ones do I have to cut?

[fzabkar]

Here is the damaged section of your circuit:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/ST1000528AS_fix.jpg

I would remove the 12V TVS diode and the damaged inductors (?). Clean up the charred area with a toothbrush and isopropyl alcohol (audio/video tape head cleaner). Then solder a wire between the two white boxes marked "+12V". This will restore the connection between the 12V terminals in the SATA power connector and the +12V rail on the PCB. If there is no other damage, the drive should work OK, but it will no longer have any overvoltage protection on the +12V supply.

Good luck.

[sidgallup]

Ok, i was building a system with some spare parts i had. The PSU had just 1 SATA power connector so i used one of those Molex to SATA converter, connected everything and powered on the PC and 1 second after i saw a small smoke cloud coming from the HD, unscrewed the thing and there it was, a big burn stain right below the SATA connector on the PCB, the HD was working fine as i was using it just for backups, it's a little hard to see in thee pictures but one of the small transistor, resistance ? is fried.

Is there anything i can do to make it work again? at least until i find a new PCB it's a  Barracuda 7200.12

http://img834.imageshack.us/i/13jun017.jpg/

http://img833.imageshack.us/i/13jun016.jpg/

http://img837.imageshack.us/i/13jun015.jpg/

http://img829.imageshack.us/i/13jun014.jpg/

[fzabkar]

Your photos are not very clear, but the burnt part is probably an inductor or low ohm resistor. I believe you should be able to replace it with a short piece of wire. AFAICT, there is also a shorted 5V TVS diode below the 8-pin EEPROM chip in the top LH corner of the following photo.

http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/1339/13jun015.jpg

Remove the diode with flush cutters, or desolder it. Post the markings if you require confirmation.

In the event that you need to replace the PCB, you will most probably need to transplant the serial EEPROM chip from patient to donor. Your local TV/AV repair shop should be able to handle this for you.

These notes should help you identify the components:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/HDD_ICs.txt
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/TVS_diodes.txt

[cueamarso]

Help me I am desperate and sad, very sad

Today I broke a Lacie external HD.
The breakage has been generated by the burning of the safety diode safety of PCB for connection with power supply from 19V to 12V instead of the endowment. I enclose photos

http://www.mediafire.com/?n779vvramaib2ng

http://www.mediafire.com/?4r0t3wfhw83lc3c

I felt the classic smell of burning from the circuit board PCB. No sign of life of the disc.
The hard disk inside the Lacie casing is a Seagate 7200.12 1TB (http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html) with the following characteristics

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB
S/N: 9VP2Y07S
ST31000528AS
P/N: 9SL154-515
Firmware: CC44
Date Code: 10201 Site Code:TK

PCB 100535537 REV A

LACIE: 1308912021629FL
HD 3.5S2

Please help me and tell me exactly what I can do. to recover data. Otherwise I have to spent around 1000€  to recover data.

I read to extract the diode but I cant understand what did you mea.