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External HD won't power on

8K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  zee5 
#1 ·
Good evening. I have a 1tb wd external hard drive that has only been used once and now will not power on. The hard drive is less than 6 months old, never been dropped, and has been stored safely since it was purchased. I thought maybe it was the enclosure and thus i took it out of the enclosure and placed it in my hd dock but the hard drive will still not power on. The main data on the external hard drive is family video footage from the past 5-7 years. While I really do not want to lose this data, I also do not want to pay $1k + to send it away to have someone retrieve the data for me. Does anyone know if there is there anyway I can provide some form of power to the external hard drive to get it to power up? Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help.
 
#2 ·
If the drive does not spin up (power on) especially if it is not in the enclosure, then there is no hope. If it powered up but was not recognized, you could use software to recover data, but not if it is cold and lifeless.
 
#3 ·
Can you upload photos of the component side of the board on the HDD, and the USB-SATA bridge board?

Is the product a My Book Essentials or a My Book Elements, or something else? The former incorporates hardware encryption.

Did you overvolt your drive with the wrong AC adapter?
 
#4 ·
I can upload photos of the board this evening. I have put the HD back in its case.

The external HD is a WD Elements, Model Number WDBAAU0010HBK-NESN

I don't think I overvolted the drive, however I did not use the AC adapter that came with the drive. I am quite sure the ac adapter I did use had all of the same electrical numbers as an older HD AC adapter I have. I guess it is very possible (probably likely) now that I look back on it and the HD will not power up that I overvolted the drive.

If that is the case and I did overvolt the drive do you think replacing the circuit board on the drive may be able to fix the issue?
 
#5 ·
The good news is that 3.5" Elements models are not encrypted, so that means you should be able to connect your drive directly to a SATA port on your motherboard.

As for a straight board swap, that rarely works. That's because each board stores unique, drive specific "adaptive" data in flash memory, either within the MCU or in an external serial flash memory at location U12. You need to transfer this chip, or its contents, to your donor PCB.

That said, the usual result of an overvoltage is a shorted 12V TVS diode.

See HDD TVS diode FAQ

... and http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/bigcircuitboard_diodes.jpg
 
#6 ·
Thank you for your time and the pix and link you have provided Fzbkar. Here are links to pix of my circuit board. Do you see anything here that might cause alarm for snipping the 12v tvs diode? Can you please clarify exactly how I should clip the 12v tvs diode? Can you also let me know of any other tips, tricks, secrets, concerns, etc... I should be aware of or that might help me? Thanks again for your time and assistance with this matter. Have a great evening and i look forward to hearing back from you again soon.

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The good news is that 3.5" Elements models are not encrypted, so that means you should be able to connect your drive directly to a SATA port on your motherboard.

As for a straight board swap, that rarely works. That's because each board stores unique, drive specific "adaptive" data in flash memory, either within the MCU or in an external serial flash memory at location U12. You need to transfer this chip, or its contents, to your donor PCB.

That said, the usual result of an overvoltage is a shorted 12V TVS diode.

See HDD TVS diode FAQ

... and http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/bigcircuitboard_diodes.jpg
 
#8 ·
Just purchased a mutimeter tested it and it appeared the diode is bad. I then snipped the diode from the board, used the multimeter again, and all indications led to the diode being bad. I then put the board back on the hard drive, placed the hard drive in my docking station and presto, the hard drive powered on and all data is perfectly fine. I am now downloading all data and moving it to another external hard drive. Thank you very, very much for all of your help with this issue. This is great and I am very thankful for your time and assistance.

One final questions: Is there any way to replace the diode, and do you think if I replace the diode the hard drive would be perfectly fine to use still? Thanks again.
 
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