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

[nicodore]

I have a 500GB Barracuda, model ST3500620AS, that was given current of the wrong voltage: 5V on the 12V path, 12V on the 5V path. Needless to say, it is now dead.

As I have a few months of family pictures and movies on this drive I would like to recover the data, but I cannot justify the cost of using a recovery service, so I want to try to do it myself. 

Would the control board from any ST3500620AS be able to read the data on the drive? Would firmware (the bad drive is a LC11) version matter?   

Tanks in advance.

Nicolas 

Message Edited by nicodore on 05-20-2009 02:18 PM

Message Edited by nicodore on 05-20-2009 02:18 PM

[fzabkar]

You will probably find a shorted TVS (transient voltage suppression) diode near the power connector. Desolder the one connected to the +5V input. The drive will run quite happily without it ... as long as you don't make another mistake.

[nicodore]

Thank you for your encouraging response!

I found 5 components (edit: no idea what they are...) between the 5V pins, 7-8-9 and ground pins on either side of them, 4-5-6 and 12. When I measure the resistance on there components they all give me 1 ohm (?! I put my multimeter on ohm with a 200 scale and it shows 1...). The components are the highlitghed below...

Am I testing correctly? Probably not as just checking the resistance will give me the same value for all the components connecting the same pins... 

Thanks for your help.

Nicolas 

Message Edited by nicodore on 05-20-2009 05:59 PM

Message Edited by nicodore on 05-20-2009 06:07 PM

[fzabkar · Accepted solution]

Remove the big device in the top LH corner of your rectangle, directly below the 3R3 coil. You may need quite a bit of heat to desolder it. Alternatively it might be easier if you just cut the pins close to the body of the diode with side cutters.

[nicodore]

So, just to be sure, this one?

I'll do it tomorrow and let you know.

Nicolas 

[fzabkar]

Yes, that's it. The 12V TVS diode (which will be OK) is to the left of it. Both have a stripe indicating the polarity. Good luck.

[nicodore]

It worked!!!

Thank you so much! I took the drive to a shop who have people whose soldering skills are much better (!) than mine and they told me the diode was good but the RAM was bad. Undeterred I went back home, took the diode off with pliers and voila!, the drive works!

I am in the process of copying the data off of it to a new drive. 

Thank you again very much, you saved me heaps of trouble and money.

Nicolas