Question : Problem: Does replacing the logic board on a hard disk really work with modern IDE/SATA drives?

Please answer this thread only if you have direct recent practical experience. Please do not reply if you have simply read (as I have) the many conflicting accounts of this process. My understanding is that although this worked with earlier drives it does not work with newer drives because information related specifically to each drive is written to the logic board. My own attempt using an exactly matching replacement board was unsuccessful possibly due to this reason. (It may have had other problems but it was spinning up). Maybe someone in the recovery industry could clarify this swapping thing once and for all. When is it likely or not likely to work? Is it more likely to work with a particular brand or type of drive? Is stiction still a problem? What would happen if I carefully opened the chamber enough to nudge the platters to spin or the arm to move?( yes I know you need a cleanroom - but what about as a last resort?) Perhaps a detailed account of how a recovery lab goes about recovering data from a drive that is making clicking sounds. I am aware of techniques such as freezing, tapping etc so do not need advice on these. Sorry to be so demanding but I feel a lot of people may benefit from an industry expert reply to this type of question.

TIA- gary in oz

Answer : Problem: Does replacing the logic board on a hard disk really work with modern IDE/SATA drives?

I have recently performed a driver circuit swap successfully on an 80GB Maxtor that was a couple of years old. It was still under Warranty but my client wanted the data before RMA'ing it.

The important thing was to find a driver circuit of the exact same revision as the broken drive. Maxtor told me on that model, that it didn't even have to be the same size of disk (but might need to be for your make and model so check), just the same revision board. This was crucial, as there turnd out to be MANY MANY drives with the same model number and even capacity, but with a widely different revision controller (even though they looked the same)! I did lots of hunting on Ebay, and emailed all the sellers for the crucial info, then bought a suitable drive to swap from (which was a different size capacity to the 80Gb Maxtor I was saving). In your case, it is well worth phoning/email the drive manufacturer to glean all the knowledge you can. It is their drive that has failed, and it is your data they have potentially lost... and naturally you want it back! You might want to develop a split persnality disorder though... the data recovery YOU and the owner of the drive YOU, and talk about you like you are separate entities! (I'm presuming here that if the drive is as new as you say, then it is still under Warranty too)

In my case, it all worked as advertised on the web. The drive was recognised when the new board was attached. I was able to use data recovery tools to then rebuild the corrupted partion and data from the drive, and got every last byte of data of the drive. Then I put the broken circuit back on, and RMA'd the drive back to Maxtor. When the replacement arrived, we put all the data back on it. (a newer generation of 80GB drive as it happened, cos technology is always moving on).

Now this worked in this case because Maxtor were able to tell me exactly what to look for in terms of which letters and numbers in the version numbering had to match to find a suitable donor drive board (and which numbers/letters could be anything as they didn't affect the board version). It also worked because we knew the drive board was the failed component (You could see a suitably blackened and exploded looking chip on the broken board).

If your drive is clicking, then it could be the drive board is not controlling the drive correctly (in our case it meant the drive wasn't even seen, let alone powered up and spinning!). However, as you said the clicking could be caused by something inside the physical drive that is causing the sounds. Clearly replacing the board can only work if the drive board that is at fault. However, since opening the drive would be seen as the last measure, then you should probably re-investigate the driver board replacement with the manufacturer first, and find out everything you can from them, to check that you have swapped on the correct board revision, as it is too late when you've opened the drive casing... you can't go back then!

This was my mileage with a Maxtor. I hadn't done this before, and I haven't done it on other makes. I can't vouch for the latest Maxtor's either, but I'm sure if you email any of them, they do their best to help you before you RMA.

One final point of interest. Maxtor's terms of Warranty state that if the drive has been played with for data recovery then the Warranty is only still valid if you send proof of that work carried out. Since I was doing it in a professional capacity, I wrote a special "jobsheet" for the customer the send to Maxtor, so that if they quibbled the drive being played with, they wouldn't reject the RMA. If you were happy that the work you'd done was professional enough, then I see no reason why you shouldn't write a suitable "jobsheet" yourself (the split personality might help here too) saying that you did data recovery on "someones" drive to retrieve THEIR data for them. My client had no problems with the RMA with a suitable word doc sent.

The RMA and data recovery processes could certainly work hand in hand in a more seamless way I think, as most RMA users would probably want their data too, yet the RMA just gives you a reconditioned unit and goodbye data!

The only thing I would say about lack of clean room, would be that if you can't afford to use one, or pay a professional to look at it, and you really want to try get the data, once you have exhausted ALL the other options, then go for it clean room or not. You can minimise the risks. But for grabbing the data off and dumping the drive, it doesn't need long term drive usage. It just needs one pass to take off the data. You've nothing to lose as a last resort. I heard of people doing it inside a plastic bag with surgical gloves on, with the bag taped around their wrists the best they can (might need and assistant for that!). I however have no experience first hand here.
Also, the heads themselves are very very delicate (the arms less so nearer the hinge), so if you do open the drive and try to free the heads if you think they are stuck, knock them from as close to the hinge as possible, to save damaging the heads. Very small tolerances between the head and the platter, and you don't want to close that gap with a mis-placed knock!

Hope this helps.

Mike