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Jumbonium2007 · Jul 1, 2007, 07:52 PM

So I was sitting on my mac mini tonight cruising along.. and all of a sudden my external 200GB hard drive just started smoking... the board is fried.. Everything on that drive is very very important, Ive backed up to DVD but my recent backups were like 3 months ago.. Any Ideas what I can do to bring it back.. Its a Maxtor DiamondMax 9 6Y200P0

If anyone has a board for this model drive it would be appreciated as well.. Im just really feeling magickal at this time..

shifuimam · Jul 1, 2007, 08:00 PM

You can try pulling the drive from the enclosure and either stick it in another enclosure or stick in a computer and see if it's even accessible. If so, back everything up.

It's likely a surge or a short killed the enclosure's power connection. If that transferred to the hard drive and killed the drive's power connection, you'll have to go to a data recovery specialist to fix it - which will cost a lot.

If the drive's under warranty (external drives usually have a one-year warranty), you should be able to get it replaced.

Jumbonium2007 · Jul 1, 2007, 08:01 PM

No warranty here.. the PCB is fried.. it smoked.. Im wondering if I order another exact PCB for the drive if that will allow me to get the data off

ghporter · Jul 2, 2007, 06:44 AM

Which PCB are we talking about? If it's the interface in the enclosure, you're almost golden-get a new, empty enclosure and you'll probably get all your data back. If you're talking about the DRIVE'S board, that's another story. You MAY be able to replace the board (a lot of them are available) and get it to work. But the problem that smoked the board may have also impacted how it talked with the platters too...it may have been able to overwrite important data on the drive like the partition data and so on.

It's worth a try...

Jumbonium2007 · Jul 2, 2007, 07:37 AM

the actual PCB on the drive itself fried...

seanc · Jul 2, 2007, 09:05 AM

Just pick up an identical drive and swap the boards over.

It's the best and cheapest option you have to try, if it doesn't work, then look into data recovery companies.

Sherman Homan · Jul 2, 2007, 09:54 AM

You are going to need a replacement drive anyway, so no harm buying a new drive and swap the board. One question, though, it is sort of rare for a drive controller card to fry. Any idea what happened?

steamy · Jul 2, 2007, 11:01 AM

if you are not that familiar with swapping enclosures and this disk was full of very important data you might just send this drive to a specialist company. Google "data recovery" and you 'll see plenty of them...

OreoCookie · 10:55 AM

My guesstimate is that the data is easily recoverable by professionals if only the hd's controller is fried.

Jumbonium2007 · Jul 2, 2007, 10:26 PM

well i ordered the same exact drive on ebay for 55 bucks shipped.. I really hope this works.. Ive got an extra 250 out of my MythTV Box that im gonna use to transfer the data back to once it gets here

richwig83 · Jul 3, 2007, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by Jumbonium2007

So I was sitting on my mac mini tonight cruising along.. and all of a sudden my external 200GB hard drive just started smoking... the board is fried.. Everything on that drive is very very important, Ive backed up to DVD but my recent backups were like 3 months ago.. Any Ideas what I can do to bring it back.. Its a Maxtor DiamondMax 9 6Y200P0

If anyone has a board for this model drive it would be appreciated as well.. Im just really feeling magickal at this time..

I wouldn't advice sitting on your mac!!!

Jumbonium2007 · Jul 16, 2007, 11:15 PM

Well i got the new drive swapped the controller boards and boom it fired up.. I transfered the data to the interim drive and then put it on the new 200GB... everything is functional.. I ended up going to staples and getting a 500gb external at staples.. I should be set for a while.. I was really lucky very very lucky

Sherman Homan · Jul 17, 2007, 06:50 AM

Great! Good job!

Lynzi · Jul 30, 2007, 02:41 AM

Indeed you are very lucky. You got back your data and you have saved 1000$ which you have spend on data recovery services. I have heard that transplant of the control Board are done in the clean room. If we can do it manually then whats the use of sending to data recovery service company.
Hey Jumbonium2007 can you please describe in details how you have done, as it would beneficial for us.

Thanks

ghporter · Jul 30, 2007, 06:31 AM

Swapping the controller board on a drive only requires ESD (electrostatic discharge) precautions. Opening the case to get at the platters, THAT requires a clean room. This is because a lot of drives operate with the heads closer to the platters than the size of a lot of household dust. Anything in the air could destroy the platter's coating. On the other hand, with a $10 static strap and some patience, swapping the controller is a piece of cake.

The reason you might need to send a drive to a data recovery service is that sometimes, the parts inside the case fail and THAT definitely means you'll need those high-dollar services if you want your data back.

Jumbonium2007 · Jul 31, 2007, 02:49 AM

I bought a drive just like the one I had.. Maxtor 6Y200P0 It has to be the same exact drive controller board/ rom revision and everything for this to work. Basically i used ESD precautions and swapped out the boards relatively simple.. Im running on this drive right now until my new 500GB arrives and then ill have a 200GB Drive for Time Machine.